The Foreign Service Journal, June 2005

RL : I hate to single out anybody because there have been so many who were helpful to me. But I can think of two who were especially important. First of all, Steve Bosworth, when he was ambassador to the Philippines in the 1980s. Later, of course, he did distinguished work as our ambassador to South Korea, and recently I was reunited with him at the Fletcher School [where he is dean], when I went there to give the commence- ment address. But at the time I met and worked with Steve in the Philippines, I’d been asked by President Reagan to lead an observer delegation there. We really had a monumental task trying to cover the Aquino-Marcos election. This did not come as a surprise; testimony by Richard Armitage and Paul Wolfowitz before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when I was first its chair- man had led us to a pretty good idea of what was going to occur, and Marcos’ call for a snap election on American television in November [1985] was a distinct challenge. P resident Reagan rose to that chal- lenge by asking me to lead this dele- gation, and Steve Bosworth was absolutely vital in giving us perspec- tive on what had been occurring in the Philippines, what to look for, and then, after it all happened and the counting went on and things became more controversial, on how to handle ourselves. So I have a profound appreciation for a diplomat at what was really a turning point not only in the history of that country, but a turning point for democracy in Asia. The implications of that election I saw immediately when I visited South Korea and Indonesia later in 1986. People were profoundly affected; some of them felt very unfavorably about it. I remem- ber a 30-minute lecture by P resident Suharto about what a fine democracy advocate he was and how he came from the grass roots and so forth. But there was certainly a change there. 22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 5 “The Foreign Service should not be perceived as folks who are somehow divorced from the realities of American life or leading some privileged existence in some exotic locale.” Sen. Lugar with Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State. Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar leaving the White House in November 1991 after briefing President George H. W. Bush on the Nunn-Lugar legislation. Sen. Lugar and Ukrainian General Vladimir Mityuk stand in front of a Blackjack bomber in November 1998. Ukraine’s Blackjack bombers, which were capable of delivering 24 nuclear-armed cruise missiles, have all been dismantled under Nunn-Lugar.