The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

and inquired after his wife and chil- dren. The man was the former chauffeur of the Egyptian ambas- sador in Washington. Following retirement from the Foreign Service, Amb. Atherton was director for six years of the Harkness Fellowship program of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, which subsidizes fellowships in the U.S. for people from the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand. From 1989 to 1998, he was director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, which awards fellow- ships to Foreign Service officers. He also wrote articles for the op-ed pages of newspapers and was a visit- ing professor of Middle Eastern affairs at Hamilton, Mount Holyoke and Birmingham Southern Colleges. He was a member of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Betty Wylie Atherton of Washington; three children, Lynne, Reed and Michael; three grandchil- dren; and two great-grandchildren. A Memorial Service was held at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 23. Designated charities are Search for Common Ground, 1601 Conn- ecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009, and Seeds of Peace, 1321 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20007. Ambassador William Gleysteen , 76, an expert on China, who played a key role in the long process of nor- malizing relations with the People’s Republic, and was ambassador to South Korea during the crisis period of the late 1970s, died of leukemia on Dec. 6 in Washington, D.C. In his eulogy, Secretary of State Colin Powell commended Ambassador Gleysteen as “an exem- plar of the highest ideals of public service … an outstanding person and professional, dedicated to the service of his country and the good of its people.” Secretary Powell reviewed the highlights of Amb. Gleysteen’s 30- year Foreign Service career. “After entering the Foreign Service in 1951, Amb. Gleysteen quickly became one of the department’s top experts on East Asia. In Washington and on assignment abroad, his insightful counsel was sought and relied upon by the leaders of the department and of the entire U.S. government,” said Powell. “His dis- tinguished service as the U.S. estab- lished diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and, especially, as ambassador to the Republic of Korea at a time of great importance to the bilateral relation- ship were highlights of an extraordi- nary career. Before entering the Foreign Service, he had served his country in the U.S. Navy. After his retirement from the Foreign Service, he continued, in several capacities and in his thoughtful and scholarly writings, to promote improved relations between the United States and the countries of East Asia. “His many friends and colleagues inside and outside the Department of State have lost a great and true friend,” Secretary Powell concluded. “He will be deeply missed.” William Henry Gleysteen was born on May 8, 1926, in Beijing, the son of Presbyterian missionary-edu- cators who worked in China before and during World War II. He was fluent in Mandarin Chinese. In 1943 he was interned by the Japanese with his parents and a brother, but was later exchanged for Japanese internees in the U.S. Mr. Gleysteen went on to serve in the Navy at the end of the war. Returning to America, he received his B.A. degree from Yale University in 1949 and an M.A. in international relations in 1951, the year he entered the Foreign Service. Mr. Gleysteen received assignments in Asian affairs from the outset. He was director of the Office of Intelligence and Research for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1969 to 1971, and deputy chief of mission in Taipei from 1971 to 1974. From 1974 to 1976, and again in 1977 and 1978, Mr. Gleysteen was posted in Washington as deputy assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs. He was also detailed to the National Security Council as senior staff officer for East Asia and the Pacific. During these years in Washington, he served as senior adviser to two successive secretaries of State in the normaliza- tion of U.S. relations with China, a goal he sought to promote through- out his career. Amb. Gleysteen is still remembered as one of those who helped rebuild the State Department’s expertise in Chinese affairs after many of its best Sinologists had fallen victim to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti- Communist campaign. President Jimmy Carter appoint- ed Mr. Gleysteen ambassador to South Korea in 1978. The year after Mr. Gleysteen arrived in Seoul, South Korean President Park Chung Hee was assassinated by leaders of his intelligence service, and a mili- tary coup followed, provoking a pop- ular uprising that was brutally sup- pressed. As ambassador to Seoul, Mr. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 67 I N M E M O R Y