The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2011

y first encounter with a head of state, I seem to remember, was on the front porch next door when my mother held me up to exchange waves with FDR as he drove down Montgomery Street in Savannah en route to give a speech. As I was less than 2 years old then, “seem to remember” is the appropriate verb form— as it also might be for the tales that follow. After a long period without sovereign contacts, a new start began when I was the Navy duty officer in Naples and re- ceived a call one Sunday afternoon from the embassy in Rome. “The king of Saudi Arabia,” I was told, “will arrive at Capodichino Airport this evening and sail on the Independ- ence for an official visit to the States. We think he may have a herd of goats with him to provide his usual beverage. Will you take care of meeting the goats and getting them promptly to the ship?” “Aye, aye, sir,” I replied, and began to wonder just how I might do that. But a call to the commissary manager lined up a refrigerated truck, which I met at the airport. Finding the most in-charge-looking FSO within the official enclosure, I saluted smartly, and said, “I’m here for the king’s goats.” “Good. Stand nearby, please.” The plane landed and a platoon of men in white robes with curved knives disembarked and boarded limos. I waited, but no goats appeared. It was an inauspicious start for my career of service to sovereigns. The next opportunity came when I was a new FSO, and President John F. Kennedy visited Rome. As a control offi- cer, I was told that he wished to deliver an unscheduled speech on Capitoline Hill after calling on the mayor. “But there will be no one there,” I observed. “All Romans will be eating lunch.” “That’s your problem,” was the official response. So I called the U.S. Information Service and ordered up an en- thusiastic audience for JFK to address. Next to arrive in Rome was Vice President Lyndon John- son, preceded by various peculiar demands (e.g., raise the hotel shower head). Again a control officer, I was told on a Saturday evening that LBJ wanted to take with him on de- parture at noon Sunday 50 silk ties and five oil paintings, which should include some cows and a lot of blue, and be priced at not more than $150 each. Deputy Chief of Mission Outerbridge Horsey said he would round up the ties and I should see to the paintings. So I called the USIS and ordered them up. At 9 a.m. Sunday, somehow everything was in place, including five paintings, one with a cow and another an abstract (with some still-sticky blue paint) by a USIS staffer — each priced at exactly $150. Dealing with Peacocks Continuing my quest for top people, I arrived in Tehran in 1972 for a four-year tour. Each year I escorted a visiting group of War College colonels to an audience with the shah 70 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 1 T HE K INGS AND I A N FSO EXPLAINS WHY CONSORTING WITH HEADS OF STATE ISN ’ T EVERYTHING IT ’ S CRACKED UP TO BE . B Y H ENRY P RECHT Henry Precht, who retired from the Foreign Service in 1987, is the author of A Diplomat’s Progress: Ten Tales of Diplo- matic Adventures in the Middle East (Williams &Company, 2004). M