The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

disagree with our policies. This often turns legitimate disagreements over tactics and timing into damaging international crises, as has been the case with Iraq. Relations with France — our oldest ally — hit bottom in an adolescent squabble. The Lessons of History Both my first and last experiences as a 35-year career American diplo- mat were with the United Nations, and I believe I am as aware of its strengths and limitations as anyone can be. In the mid-1950s I was a junior member of a succession of del- egations to the annual sessions of the General Assembly, dealing with polit- ical issues on the U.N. agenda. The number of members was in the 50s and the atmosphere was, for the most part, intimate and collegial. The Uni- ted States was almost universally re- spected. I met fellow diplomats, then also junior members of their delega- tions, who later were ambassadors and foreign ministers and became my lifelong friends. I worked with Dag Hammarskjold and Ralph Bunche in setting up the United Nations Expedi- tionary Force, one of the earliest peacekeeping efforts, in the wake of the 1956 Suez crisis. Decoloniza- tion was proceeding apace, helped along by the U.N. I was a negotiator with the Soviets and others of the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization today increasingly in the news. The envi- ronment was serious and efficient. We had a sense of participation in the making of history. Thirty-plus years later, I was asked by President George Bush the elder, himself a moderate and intelligent internationalist and advocate of the U.N., to take the position first held by Ralph Bunche as the senior American in the secretariat. On his recommen- dation, U.N. Secretary General Perez de Cuellar appointed me under-secre- tary general for political affairs in 1989. The number of members had soared above 160, and the profession- al staff had increased along with it. But the atmosphere was much changed. It was a difficult time because atti- tudes toward the United States had changed as well. This was the era in which our annual dues were being withheld by Congress, some key members of which, perhaps with visions of black helicopters dancing in their heads, were suspicious of the U.N. and were using this tactic to force reform (by which they meant reducing U.S. dues and forcing the organization to cut its staff and budget, which was substantially less than the annual cost of the New York Police Department). It was symptomatic of the growing turn to unilateralism rather than a rational approach to needed changes. I remember one senator fulminating in outrage at the effrontery of the U.N. for selecting sites in the U.S. to add to the list of World Heritage Sites deserving protection by the interna- tional community if protection was needed. We had already withdrawn in high dudgeon from UNESCO, an error only last year reversed under pressure from several members of Congress. It was a crazy era and the U.N. was badly damaged by our dead- beat policy toward our annual assess- ment, prompt payment of which is a 56 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 4 A time of service…a time of need Help for Seniors May Be Just a Phone Call Away— Home Health Care Adult Day Care & Respite Care Prescription Drug Copayments Transportation to Medical Appointments Durable Medical Equipment For more information, please contact the SENIOR LIVING FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE 1716 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-2902 Phone: (202) 887-8170 Fax: (202) 872-9320 E-Mail: afspa@afspa.org W eb Site: www.afspa.org The Senior Living Foundation may be able to help you or someone you know. Some examples of assistance are: SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION It was a difficult time because attitudes toward the United States had changed as well. afspa ad, 4c new to be sent on disk to printer PDF FPO only