Cleveland, Mary
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Program Foreign Service Spouse Series MARY CLEVELAND Memoir: Mary Cleveland’s Foreign Service 1947-1965 TABLE OF CONTENTS ROMANIA 1947-1948 Assignment to Bucharest Romanian Intrigue S(MMER 1947 Francie Packing the lift vans S.S. Mauritania Family reunion On to Bucharest Our ne, home Our elegant staff A ne, life Romanian society Savel Radulescu -Dear soul. Rudolf Schoenfeld for tea Marshal Tito Christmas 1947 0inter activities 1ocal produce 2ypsies 1illian Mrs. Strasser Medical problems Spring 1948 The Rome conference Summer 1948 Snagov 1ast days in Bucharest To Paris -- the Orient E4press 56 years later FRA CE 1948-1952 1 Paris An inglorious arrival Hotel 8endome Maroche 8illa Mirasol Embassy life Protocol 2rocery shopping Travels A long trip 0ine An accident 2eorge 0adleigh Christmas 1949 8illa Madrid Home leave 1950 A ,edding France again Social life The 0indsors Mob scene Spain ormandy 2eneva Summer 1951 The Cistern Picnics Back to Paris David Cleveland 1ast days in Paris A chance encounter A(STRA1IA 1954-1956 0ashington turmoil Off to Sydney The Oronsay A bit about Australia Some history The Common,ealth 0orld 0ar Ii Australia in 1954 S:D E: Ascham School -The Buckingham Palace. Taronga ;oo 0unulla Road 2 Servant problems Trip across Australia Perth Home again Isaac Stern A spooky story Point Piper friends Our traveling cats Spring 1954 Australian life style Christmas 1954 Trip to Ne, ;ealand Footnote: Early 1955 Canberra, the Federal Capital The Coral Sea Celebrations Tasmania 8acation in Queensland Silver,ake Kangaroo TiAAy Cat English (AustralianC and 1abor Holidays Social events European influences Everyday life Christmas 1955 earing departure time e, Caledonia Final days 1Denvoi Thirty years later BET0EE POSTS 1956 The long trip home 0ashington Assignment to Bangkok Eapan Hong Kong THAI1A D 1956-1958 ArrivalFSeptember 1956 The American Club Settling in House hunting Ben and family The Soi Sarasin house 3 Social life Christmas 1956 February birthdays, 1957 Martin HerADs 0edding A ne, driver RaGadamri Boulevard 1ivestock The Oakleys Sports Snakes -- milking cobras Street scenes Shopping The Emerald Buddha The Chao Phraya Rive The Culture 8ultures Eim Thompson and his Thai Silk Royalty Himalayan e4pedition, April 1957 DarGeeling Kalimpong 2angtok, Sikkim Haute Cuisine in Bangkok Cats F Siamese and others Angkor 0at Saigon The Sacred Cat, Sisa,at, I, II, III The Sacred 0hite Elephant and other beasts Ambassador (. Ale4is Eohnson The 2erman doctor Polly The rainy season Bernadette A vacation Macao Singapore Fall and ,inter 1957 Bangkok schools Malaysia: SingaporeFKuala 1umpurFPenang Penang Eapanese prison camp A cremation 2500 years of Buddhism Piano lessons A success story Assignment 0ashington Burma 4 1aos 8ientiane Time to goF Souvenirs of oriental art Departure Time Epilogue: 0ASHI 2TO 1958-1963 Home,ard Bound 0ashington, Kalorama Road 2303 California Street, 0inter and Spring, 1959 California Street 1960 - 1963 Cat Stories PoliticsFThe 1960 Election 8olunteer 0ork Foreign Service Friends Tomato-Meat Sauce Summer, 1961 The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome Holton-Arms PollyDs Senior :ear, 1962 A Trip To Canada Fall and Christmas, 1962 A Ne, Assignment Christmas 1962 :(2OS1A8IA 1963-1965 The SS 8ulcaniaH Ne, :ork to Trieste. February, 1963 MickeyIs attic caper Arrival in Belgrade, February 1963 The Embassy Settling in The T,ib Pupski Serbo-Croatian Croatia and Slovenia -- April 1963 The Dalmatian Coast April 1963 Romania Revisited May 1963 Macedonia May 1963 Kosovo 2oodbye to Ambassador Kennan May 1963 Croatia and Italy Eune 1963 Italy, briefly The SkopGe Earthquake Euly 1963 Summer in Belgrade 1963 The Terrible Taunus Trip -- August 1963 Trouble in the Alps 5 Over the Pass Branksome Hilders, Haslemere, Surrey September 1963 October 1963 0ashington, early October Belgrade Friday Evening, November 22, 1963 AustriaFCharlieDs education Oberammergau and 8ienna The Christmas 1963 Saga: DavidDs flight from 1ondon to Belgrade Day One Day T,o Day Three Day Four Eanuary 1964 February 1964 The Elbricks 1ondon and Paris Spring 1964 May Day Easter in 2reece Kosovo Montenegro Dubrovnik Bosnia Eune 1964 The Cyclades Belgrade, Fall 1964 An Anonymous Concert Keeping the faith The religious instruction of Pupski A Peasant 0edding At the farm ShakespeareDs 400th Birthday Christmas 1964 0inter 1965 A Serbian Slava Travel to the (SA and 2ermany, 0inter 1965 The Berlin Airlift and the 0all 0est BerlinFFebruary 1965 Back to Belgrade Captain Nemo arrives MishkatF1965-1986 Spring 1965FFare,ell to :ugoslavia 1Ienvoi, Eune 1965 ARO( D THE 0OR1D I 50 DA:S 1969 Taipei Bangkok Chiengmai 6 Malay Peninsula Indonesia Iran Persepolis Isfahan CHI A 1975 The opening to China An e4citing invitation A long trip Hong Kong Brief history A ,alk across the bridge to China Our first briefing K,angcho, A farming commune A ,orking neighborhood Factory visits The Municipal ChildrenDs Palace The children The Feng Cheng Kindergarten A Shanghai middle school The Nanking (niversity Ancient art Entertainment The Seven Star Crags Soocho, or Su ;hou The horrors of the Eapanese occupation 8enice of the East Peking The great historical and cultural monuments of the past Early morning in Peking Pandas Shopping Medicine The Peking (niversity An Embassy briefing Peking Duck Chinese Banquet The long trip home Ha,aii The National Committee on (SKChinese Relations CHI A A2AI 1980 arita Eapan ShanghaiK-Above the Sea. 7 Changes in Shanghai Our first vie, of the :angtAe Qin Shi Huang Di, First Emperor, Qin Dynasty, 221-210 BC LiDa Chungking -- Chongqing, S0 China Chungking to 0uhan by Riverboat Riverboat, -The Red Star. M 45 The Three 2orges 0uhan 0uhan (niversity BeiGing Chairman Mao Early Morning 0alks Famous Sites Foreign Affairs The Ne, American Embassy Old Friends Memoir: Mary Cleveland‘s Foreign Servi e 1947-1965 I, Mary Manning Cleveland, am the ,ife of FSO (RetiredC Robert 2. Cleveland. 0e served together at five Foreign Service posts abroad from 1947 to 1970 ,ith interim appointments in 0ashington. Robert ,as appointed to the Service as a mid career officer as part of the Manpo,er Act introduced in 1947 to fill the vacancies created during the depression of the mid thirties ,hen no officers ,ere appointed. In 2003 ,e ,rote for the family our life stories. From this I have e4tracted our adventures in the Foreign Service that ,e shared ,ith our three children plus a fe, trips from our post-retirement days. Our foreign posts ,ere Romania (1947-48C, France (1948-52C, Australia (1954-56C, Thailand (1956-58C, and :ugoslavia (1963-65C. During this time our family consisted of Robert and me and our three children, Polly, Francie, and David born in Paris. Robert and I no, live in 0ashington, D.C. Romania 1947-1948 Assignment to B charest In early 1947 Robert received his first Foreign Service assignment. He ,ould go as First Secretary to the reestablished American 1egation in Bucharest, Romania. His job there ,ould be to handle matters relating to the ne,ly signed Peace Treaty. This seemed to be an e4citing assignment, and ,e ,ere delighted. It turned out to be a fascinating e4perience, but as some people predicted, a -Mission Impossible.. 0e e4pected our second baby in early Euly. 0ith that in mind, Robert asked if he ,as needed in Bucharest right a,ay. He ,as informed that in the Foreign Service, as in the 8 avy, a man is al,ays present at the keel laying but not al,ays at the launchingN Post,ar Romania ,as clearly not the place for -launching. in 1947. Robert ,ould have to go to Bucharest ,ithout me, and I ,ould produce the baby, Frances, on my o,n. After a brief period of indoctrination and language study, Robert ,ould sail for Europe in May 1947. The children and I ,ould follo, five months later. Romanian Intrig e Soon after ,e learned of our assignment, ,e became un,ittingly involved in a typical Romanian-style intrigue. It started at the Romanian 1egation, ,here ,e ,ere invited to meet the ne, Romanian Minister. There, a handsome lady by the name of Mrs. 2unther Aeroed in on us. She ooAed ,ith charmN She kne, about RobertDs assignment -- and as ,e soon discovered -- ,as planning to use himN Her husband ,as the last pre-0ar Minister to Romania -- he had died and ,as buried there. In Bucharest Mrs. 2unther had adopted a Romanian custom. She had taken as her lover, a Romanian grandee, Savel Radulescu -- an adviser to the king. Because of the 0ar, she had to return to the (nited States -- not only did she leave her dead husband behind, but her -dear friend. Savel, as ,ellN The pieces ,ere in place for her schemes -- ,e ,ere to become couriers for Savel. Soon I ,as deluged ,ith Romanian-made gifts -- mostly beautifully hand-embroidered table linen. Then ,e received an invitation for a black-tie dinner in our honor at her house in 2eorgeto,n. After a fine meal, as the butler ,as serving coffee, Mrs. 2unther asked Robert into her library -- Here she tried to hand him a large ,ad of hundred-dollar bills to be given to Savel. In Bucharest, Robert ,ould be contacted -- rather an Alfred Hitchcock spy scenarioN Robert didnDt like this at all -- he politely declined -- he pointed out that if the Romanian authorities heard about it -- it ,ould embarrass the (S 2overnment and could jeopardiAe his career. 1ater she tried another tactic: the follo,ing ,eek ,hen Robert ,as to sail for Europe. I ,ent to Ne, :ork to see him off -- eight-months pregnant and very sad to be left behind. 0e had a fare,ell lunch ,ith RobertDs father at the Harvard Club. After lunch, Mrs. 2unther appeared outside the Club ,ith several bottles of Portuguese ,ine for Robert and a big suitcase of clothes for -my dear friend.