The Foreign Service Journal, May 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2021 53 AVictoryAgainst McCarthy The Bohlen Confirmation Avis Bohlen, the daughter of Charles E. Bohlen, is a retired Foreign Service officer. She served as ambassa- dor to Bulgaria (1996-1999) and as assistant secretary for arms control (1999-2002). Other postings include deputy chief of mission in Paris, multiple tours in the European Bureau and service on arms control delegations in Geneva and Vienna. She is currently writing a biography of her father. W hen President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office on Jan. 20, 1953, Charles E. (Chip) Bohlen was at the peak of his Foreign Service career. Only George Kennan could rival his reputation as a Soviet expert. After interpreting for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Tehran and Yalta, he had served with distinction under President Harry Truman, earning a promotion to counselor of the State Department in 1948 and participating actively in all major events of this seminal period, including the Marshall Plan, the Berlin blockade and the creation of NATO. Endowed with good looks, an easy sociability and an irreverent FS HERITAGE Nominated as U.S. ambassador to Moscow by President Eisenhower, Charles E. Bohlen met resistance head-on from Republican senators during the Red Scare. BY AV I S BOHL EN A portrait of Charles E. Bohlen, circa 1951. ULLSTEINBILD/GETTY