The Foreign Service Journal, April 2008

His agency and the visa section being in the same building, I suggested he and his staff spend some time there. This seemed to be something they’d never considered. Much earlier, during President Kennedy’s final year, I had been the junior officer on several country desks. I was tasked with rounding up a num- ber of different agency signatures for a miniscule defense package for a small country in time for its first anniversary of independence. There was one holdout, so the jeep we eventually pro- vided had the mount but no 50-caliber machine gun. Well, you can’t satisfy everybody! Because of this experience, and noting the number of special events on the calendar such as Secretary’s Day and the various History Months, I developed the idea of Interagency Cooperation Month. It got a lot of laughs then and still does today, 45 years later. Louis V. Riggio FSO, retired Hollywood, Fla. Fool Me Twice The article on Ambassador Loy Henderson in the February Journal includes the point that the Soviets were able to have him removed from the Division of European Affairs in 1943 on the grounds that he was anti- Soviet and an impediment to the war- time alliance. Interestingly enough, I believe the Soviets were able to pull that trick again in 1979 when Ambas- sador to the U.S. Anatoliy Dobrynin was able to convince Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and President Jimmy Carter that Ambassador Malcolm Toon — who, like Amb. Henderson, was a cold-eyed realist as far as the USSR was concerned — was an “im- pediment to detente.” I was in the Bureau of European Affairs at the time and recall the con- tinuing Soviet campaign against Amb. Toon, who was replaced in 1979 by former IBM CEO Thomas Watson Jr. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Thomas Niles FSO, retired Scarsdale, N.Y. A P R I L 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 L E T T E R S Send your letter to the editor to: journal@afsa.org . Note that all submissions are subject to editing for style, format and length. * per night, single or double occupancy subject to availability Y our search is over, choose a hotel where the federal per diem rate is available year-round. * Luxurious Suites All rooms with full size kitchen & stove tops Fitness center Complimentary in-room coffee Full service restaurant Parking available Across fromMain State White House, The Mall, and Metro Foggy Bottom station (blue & orange lines) within walking distance Accommodations State Plaza Hotel 2117 E. St. NW Washington, DC 20037 Telephone: (800) 424-2859 (202) 861-8200 Parking Available Rated 1 / 2 by AAA www.stateplaza.com E-mail: reservationsagent@ RBpropertiesinc.com