The Foreign Service Journal, January 2008

Polk concludes by quoting the famous speech President Dwight Eisenhower delivered on April 16, 1953: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. …This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threat- ening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” More than a half-century later, the prophetic power of Eisenhower’s exhortation remains as stirring, and relevant, as ever. Three-time ambassador and retired Foreign Service officer Robert V. Keeley operates Five and Ten Press, a small, independent publishing company he founded to bring out original articles, essays and other short works of fiction and nonfiction that have been rejected or ignored by mainstream outlets. A Welcome Reissuance First Line of Defense: Ambassadors, Embassies and American Interests Abroad Robert V. Keeley, editor; American Academy of Diplomacy, 2007, paperback, 124 pages, $15.00 R EVIEWED BY S TEVEN A LAN H ONLEY As we enter an election year, the many pressing foreign policy chal- lenges on the agenda call for a public that understands the critical role of diplomacy in handling them. With that mission in mind, the American Academy of Diplomacy has reprinted its flagship publication, First Line of Defense: Ambassadors, Embassies and American Interests Abroad. When the book was originally pub- lished in 2000, funded by a grant from the Nelson B. Delevan Found- ation, there was little attempt to pub- licize it. (The Journal did note its publication as part of our first annual compilation of books by Foreign Service-affiliated authors, “In Their Own Write,” in November 2000.) As a result, the book has not yet found a wide audience, something the Academy hopes to change. First Line of Defense relates dozens of instances where chiefs of mission have intervened successful- ly to further U.S. interests, even sometimes at the risk of their per- sonal safety. These include the experiences of Robert Strauss in the Soviet Union, Walter Mondale in Japan, Raymond Seitz in the United Kingdom, Frank Carlucci in Por- tugal, Elinor Constable in Kenya, Richard Carpenter in Spain, James Jones in Mexico, James Blanchard in Canada, Frank Wisner in India, Michael Armacost in the Philip- pines, Harry Shlaudeman in Vene- zuela, Robert Oakley in Pakistan, and Thomas Pickering at the United Nations. Retired FSO Robert Keeley, him- self a three-time ambassador (Mau- ritius, Zimbabwe and Greece), lets the stories he has compiled speak for themselves, which they do quite elo- quently. Collectively, they demon- strate how effective diplomacy is essential in getting from policy con- ception to success. Because the book offers multiple examples while remaining short and lively, it is particularly effective for use by those teaching international rela- tions or trying to explain the diplo- matic function to the public. It is unfortunate that AAD was unable to update the book’s contents or add a new introduction, but none- theless the compilation remains use- ful. It is available for purchase by sending a check to: American Academy of Diplomacy 1800 K St. NW, Suite 1014 Washington DC 20006 For more information, visit the Academy’s Web site at www.academy ofdiplomacy.org/publications/fld. html. Steven Alan Honley is the editor of the Journal. 74 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 B O O K S