p 0 F I L 5 AMB A55 A DO !\ IPLOMACY, some other claim­ United States now has embassies in ants notwithstanding, is proh­ ninety-three countries, and ome sixteen D ahly the oldest profession in the thousa nd Americans and foreign citi­ world. The first diplomats, as Sir zens-two or three thousand of them Harold icol on has pointed out, were Foreign Service officers and the rest most likely anthropoid apes who divided --- specialists of one kind or another­ .,...-. - - up the jungle among themselves for ,:;- =-- - ...... work ahroad for the State Department hunting purpo es-often so ineffectual­ or for its directly affiliated agencies and ly that they were soon at each other's deal with everything from atomic mat­ throats over disputed territorial rights. ters to crop-rotation schemes and tours ~ --. The apes arc credited with having in­ ( :'i;" 1, ~'~- of visiting American musicians. Now­ troduced one of the earliest diplomatic adays, almost any nation, no matter devices-diplomatic immunity, which how small or how new, is accorded a ' 1,:,1 guaranteed an emissary that, whatever . j:f"',-:..:;..:;-,z ,'/, full-fledged ambassador once we have else hecame of him, he wouldn't be .,.,__ ~ ' -},J recognized its existence. The ambassa­ '(s;_II:·..;•'• ,I -~ ~ ·I murdered. Around 600 B.C., the am­ dor in each post, who i also known as S \:~~~~ f \ l ~: bassadors of the Greek city-states theo­ Chief of Mission, shall, in the language retically enjoyed the same protection, of a 195 4 Executive Order, "serve ::is but actually their lives were always in the channel of authority on foreign danger. In those days, diplomacy had policy and shall provide foreign policy other drawbacks, too; ambassadors got direction to all representatives of United no salary and were forbidden to accept States agencies ... and he shall a sumc presents, under penalty of execution, responsibility for assuring the unified de­ and their only compensation was a velopment and executio11 of rall] pro­ spending allowance, which, in the man­ John Moors Cabot grams." In general, though an am­ ner of members of the Foreign Serv­ bassador doesn't get as much chance to ice of the United States today, they nineteenth century. Every President improvise policy as he once did, he has considered far from adequate. If a from Washington himself to Jackson a far greater number of intricate day­ man successfully brought off a mission, had had some diplomatic experience, by-day perplexities to face, the determi­ the most he could expect wa a garland and the era was notable for a score or nation of which often demands on-the­ of wild-olive leaves, a free meal in the so of brilliant envoys, like Benjamin spot judgments that can be at least as town hall, and a commemorative tab­ Franklin and John Jay, who, operat­ tough to make as basic policy decisions. let; if he failed, he was politically de­ ing very much on their own, secured An ambassador who once might have stroyed, if not worse. As diplomacy recognition for the United States and sent off his dispatches to Washington was further refined, under the Byzan­ financial or military support from Euro­ every few weeks, or even months, is tines and the Venetians, it hecame more pean nations. Then, in the eighteen­ now in daily or hourly telegraphic or ceremonial and more riddled with du­ thirties, the United States withdrew into telephonic touch with his superiors at plicity. Then, in the time of Richelieu, its shell, and for many years this coun­ home, and in addition he is apt to fly the French raised the level of diplo­ try remained largely aloof from Europe home fairly often for personal con­ matic morality and developed diplomat­ and indifferent to its representation sultations, from which he may return ic methods and procedures-intricate, there, its diplomatic "corps" dwindling to his post with a new set of directives. perhaps, but workmanlike-that have until it was composed mainly of men The expansion of our need for dip­ persisted to the present time. But if the who in their youth, as family friends of lomatic representation has meant that forms and trappings of diplomacy have earlier emissaries, had accompanied career diplomats move from post te1 remained much the same since the them to their posts and had found that post far more frequently than they used seventeenth century, the diplomatic they liked the life enough to stay on. to; whereas a top-ranking man former­ strategies of individual nations have As recently as the eve of the First \Vorld ly served in only three or four countries varied greatly with historical circum­ \Var, the United States had embassies in his entire diplomatic lifetime, such stances. In contrast to the British For­ in only ten nations-elsewhere it was a man is now likely to be assigned to eign Office, for example, our State represented by mere legations or con­ at least a dozen posts. Department, ever since its creation, on sular posts-and even in 1924 the for­ On th e whole, diplomatic career July 27, 1789, hy a simple one-page mal diplomatic corps, as distinct from men find that their quiet assignments Act of Congress, ha heen swayed by the consular corps, which was some­ and their exciting ones average out over the vicissitudes of a national foreign what larger, consisted of just a hundred .the years, but there are exceptions, and policy responsive to the needs of the and twenty-two men. In that year, the one veteran officer whose record shows moment, instead of adhering to a con­ two corps merged to form the For­ an unusually high proportion of trouble sistent philosophy of government and eign Service of the United States-a spots is John Moors Cabot, of the Bos­ an enduring set of aims. body of career men who fill practically ton Cabots, who, having served through Even before 1789, the young nation all of our diplomatic positions, except, crises in Argentina, Yugoslavia, and entered what has been called the Gold­ of course, those ambassadorships that China since the Second World , var, en Age of American Diplomacy, which the President sees fit to assign to out­ was named in May, 1959, as Ambas­ hsted through the third decade of the side, or "political," appointees. The sador to Brazil, a country who e at- 40 41 cently married the former ©DANA PERFUMES CORP. 1961 Elizabeth Lewis-found life gay and easygoing. Beyond the fact that he naturally has far greater responsibilities as Ambas­ sador than he had as sec­ ond secretary, and that he was faced upon his second arrival in Rio with a far more serious and touchy situation, the mere physical act of moving to Brazil was much harder for the Cab­ ots this time than last. Back in the thirties, when they were young in the Foreign Service, they tra veiled light, but they have since picked up a great many possessions, and they can't resist taking the bulk of these along wherever they go-a weakness that has earned them a reputation in diplomatic circles for • domestic elegance but that has caused them an in­ creasingly severe head­ ache with each transfer. Cabot's letter continued: There is a saying in the Foreign Service that three transfers are the equiva­ lent of one fire, and as far as we're concerned that's been the case. Rain, damp­ ness, rough handling, bad packing, insects, pilferage, and a number of other haz- «They're all enjoying themselves. There must be ards must always be con­ sidered, and \\'hat made something wrong with you.I" things tough this time was that ll'e didn't know, when \\·e " ·ent on leave to Wash­ • • ington in the spring from our previous post in Colom- mosphere has for some time been one th e few questions put to him br senators bia, that \\'e ,,·e re going to be transferred. of acute nationalism and economic peril. was "\Vil! you have to divest yourself So everything in Bogota had to be packed Cabot was sent to Brazil under un­ of any interests of an equestrian na­ for us by other people, and despite all the care that \\'as taken, needless to say, usual circumstances, taking over after ture/" Cabot, who looks horsy but isn't, there was a certain confusion. We remem­ Clare Boothe Luce had accepted the replied, diplomatically, "No, I'm al­ bered the ambassadorial residence in Rio post and then immediately resigned it, lergic to horses." His appointment was as a large, rather pretentious house that following an exchange of insults with unanimously confirmed. has all the charm and intimacy of a rail\\'ay station, and we knew it would Senator \Vayne Cabot's assignment not be a Morse, of Oregon. to Brazil is his small task to soften its appearance \Yith The Senator had opposed her appoint­ eighteenth in the three and a half dec­ our personal things and make it a pleas­ ment, and she had suggested that his ades he has been a career diplomat. "It anter place in which to live. As a rule, brain was addled because he had once is always an emotional experience to what we haven't lugged around from post to post been "kicked in the head by a horse." leave one post and take up a new one," we've stored in our home in Wash­ ington or in our summer residence, in While Mr. Morse had suffered mouth he wrote to a friend soon after his ar­ Manchester, l\llassachusetts.