The Foreign Service Journal, January 2010

54 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 1 0 favor the wealthiest individuals and companies.” Elsewhere in the book, she pro- claims that “We don’t need a new pre- scription; we need a new eye chart.” In that spirit, Stanger’s prescription is for a radical transformation of American foreign policy, one that will retrieve the conduct of international affairs from the grasp of the private sector. Peter F. Spalding is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer who served in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Being On the Ground Honorable Survivor: Mao’s China, McCarthy’s America, and the Persecution of John S. Service Lynne Joiner, Naval Institute Press, 2009, $37.95, hardcover, 402 pages. R EVIEWED BY S USAN B RADY M AITRA Honorable Survivor, the remarkable story of John Service’s life and Foreign Service career by Lynne Joiner, is not just a fascinating read. It recounts the adventures of a courageous and tal- ented individual who was at the center of momentous historical developments. It also offers breathtaking insights, for diplomats and students of history alike, into the realities of the process of national policymaking, including the terrible toll exacted by egotism, mis- communication, prejudice, turf warfare and plain ignorance. As such, the book is full of timely lessons — not the least being the critical value of quality For- eign Service political reporting. The son of American missionaries, John Service was born and raised in China, becoming fluent in the language and culture of its cities, towns and countryside. As an FSO posted to Chunking in 1941, when China was under siege by Imperial Japan, Service reported prolifically on what was hap- pening on the ground: in particular, the rise of the Maoist movement and the machinations of Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang — collecting vital infor- mation that Washington had no access to otherwise. Unafraid to draw conclu- sions from his observations, he pleaded for a policy more in tune with realities in China, one that would optimize America’s position in this vital region. Yet Service’s reports and analysis were dismissed. And as the Cold War deepened and the era of anti-commu- nist witch-hunting unfolded, his loyalty was called into question and his diplo- matic career destroyed. Accused of “losing China,” John Service was per- secuted for the next decade. Throughout the ordeal, he main- tained the courage, integrity, modesty and good humor that were the hall- marks of his character. His 1951 dis- missal from the Foreign Service was finally overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1957. Another kind of vindi- cation came with the Nixon adminis- tration’s dramatic opening to Commu- nist China in 1971. At a luncheon AFSA hosted to honor Service and the “old China hands” on Jan. 30, 1973, historian Bar- bara Tuchman pointed to the acute sense of irony Service and his col- leagues must have felt watching the Nixon-Mao Zedong meeting. “Why were these individuals not listened to even before they were persecuted?” she asked. “Why is there a persistent gap between observers in the field and policymakers in the capital?” In Honorable Survivor , all of the an- swers Tuchman offered to those ques- tions are on display, in detail and Technicolor— the preconceptions and long-implanted biases of the particular policymaker; psychological factors at the receiving end, such as tempera- ment or private ambitions and fears; and national myths, such as the myth of the communist monolith, which Tuch- man judged “the costliest of our time.” Yet the value of quality reporting en- dures, Tuchman noted. “Fortunately for the record and the reputation of the Foreign Service, the reports of Service and his colleagues from China in the 1940s are now where anyone can con- sult them— in the published volumes of U.S. Foreign Relations, China Series . Under the inflexible verdict of history, they stand up.” John Service, the guest of honor that day, devoted his own remarks to the topic of Foreign Service reporting. “Confucius seems not to have said: ‘One picture is worth a thousand words,’” Service told the gathering. “But perhaps one can coin another phrase: ‘One close look is worth a thou- sand distant guesses.’ There is no real substitute for being on the ground.” There were still parts of the world B O O K S Unafraid to draw conclusions from his observations, Service pleaded for a policy more in tune with realities in China.