The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

66 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3 Ambassador Alfred L. Atherton Jr ., 80, a Foreign Service officer and Middle East expert who helped in the negotiations that led to the 1978 Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, died Oct. 30, 2002, at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., of complications related to cancer surgery. In a tribute to Amb. Atherton, Secretary of State Colin Powell cited his “exemplary” Foreign Service career spanning 38 years, during which Amb. Atherton “earned a rep- utation for excellence, tireless devo- tion, loyalty, and a genuine care for his colleagues and diplomatic coun- terparts.” His career included four years as ambassador to Egypt and four years as assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs. In this role, he direct- ed one of the State Department’s most critical sections, with responsi- bility related to not only Arab-Israeli disputes, but also the hostility between India and Pakistan. He also served as director general of the Foreign Service and director of per- sonnel for the State Department. Following retirement in 1985, Amb. Atherton remained deeply involved in policy and personnel issues at the department. “His pres- ence will be deeply missed, but his contributions to the department and the United States will never be for- gotten,” said Secretary Powell. As a Middle East peace negotia- tor, Amb. Atherton was said to have been able to understand and articu- late the historic grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, and to have had the trust of both sides. In 1978, President Carter named him ambas- sador-at-large for Middle East nego- tiations, and Atherton spent two years as a shuttle diplomat, traveling between Middle Eastern capitals. As ambassador to Egypt from 1979 to 1983, Mr. Atherton presided over what then was the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world, with a staff of 872 Americans and 500 Egyptians. After the Camp David accords, hundreds of Americans were dispatched to Cairo to help administer $1.5 billion a year in military and economic assistance that flowed from the United States. In October 1981, midway through Atherton’s tenure as ambassador, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who had agreed to make peace with Israel, was assassinated by a com- mando group led by an Egyptian Army lieutenant. A resident of Washington, Amb. Atherton was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. He graduated from Harvard University and served in the Army in Europe during World War II. He received a master’s degree in eco- nomics from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Atherton joined the Foreign Service in 1947, and in early assign- ments served in Germany, Syria and India, in addition to postings in Washington. He had a reputation as a tireless worker who routinely was in his office by 7:30 a.m. and rarely left before 8 at night, and was fierce- ly loyal to the Foreign Service as an institution. In a widely publicized incident in 1976, recounted by Bart Barnes in the Washington Post , Mr. Atherton stepped forward to take public responsibility for leaking classified material to a magazine writer for an article on secret talks between Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and Middle Eastern leaders. Within the State Department, it was widely suspect- ed that Mr. Atherton had in fact taken a fall for Kissinger, but this was denied by Deputy Under Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, who conducted an official inquiry into the leak. The State Department made a public announcement that Mr. Atherton had been “severely reprimanded” by Kissinger, but the reprimand appeared to have little impact on his career. Shortly thereafter, Kissinger invited him to lunch with the Israeli foreign minister for a dis- cussion of important aspects of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Two years later, Carter named Mr. Atherton ambassador to Egypt. In his personal life, Mr. Atherton, who was known as “Roy,” was a cam- era enthusiast who took hundreds of slide photographs at family gather- ings and in his travels around the world. He had an exceptional mem- ory for names and faces. Family members told Washington Post reporter Bart Barnes of a recent incident at a Giant Food parking lot on Wisconsin Avenue, when Mr. Atherton was stopped by a man who addressed him as “Mr. Ambassador.” Atherton had not seen the man in 20 years, but addressed him by name I N M EMORY