The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2004

J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49 n June 24, Ambassador Richard Bordeaux Parker received the American Foreign Service Associa- tion’s award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy, in recognition of a distinguished 31-year Foreign Service career and equally impressive academic and schol- arly accomplishments. Being born on July 3, 1923, in the Philippines, where his father was stationed with the U.S. Army, gave Parker an early, if brief, exposure to overseas life. But his initial professional goal was to become a chemical engineer. It was while he was studying engineering at Kansas State University (known then as Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science) that fate stepped in for the first time. The future ambassador had to take German as a prerequisite for chemical engineering, he recalls, “and it was clear that German came much easier to me than to anyone else in the class. I discovered a gift for lan- guages that I hadn't realized I had.” Then fate nudged him once again —much more strong- ly, this time — when World War II interrupted his studies and he went overseas as an infantry officer. Captured by the Germans after the Battle of the Bulge, he was eventual- ly repatriated at the end of the war via Odessa, the Turkish Straits, Port Said and Naples. That first encounter with the “great wide world” left him determined to go back and see a lot more of it. Soon after he joined the Foreign Service in 1949, his facility in languages steered him toward a specialization in the Arab world. In 1961, he became the first non-native speaker in the Service to attain a 4/4 rating in Arabic, indi- cating full fluency in the spoken and written language, from the Foreign Service Institute. That facility paved the way for him to be a three-time ambassador, to Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco; earlier assignments included Australia, Israel, Jordan and Egypt, as well as several stints on country desks back in Washington. Somehow, along the way he found the time to take up the study of Islamic architecture as a hobby and to write two “practical guides” on the subject — the first of seven books he has written or edited: Guide to Islamic Monuments in Cairo (American University in Cairo Press, 1974; now in its fifth edition) and Guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco (self-published, 1981); North Africa: Regional Tensions and Strategic Concerns (Praeger, 1984; a Council on Foreign Relations book); T he Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East (Indiana University Press, 1993); The Six-Day War: A Retrospective (editor; University Press of Florida, 1996); The October War: A Retrospective (editor; University Press of Florida, 2001); and his latest, Uncle Sam in Barbary: A Diplomatic History (University Press of Florida, 2004; see p. 71 for a review). He has also served as editor of the Middle East Journal , and has contributed dozens of articles and book reviews to various periodicals. Upon retirement from the Service in 1981, Parker became diplomat-in-residence at the University of Virginia for two years, and has also taught at several other colleges and universities. He served as the first president of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and is also a member of many other prestigious organizations, includ- ing the Advisory Council on Near East Studies at Princeton University, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the A D IPLOMATIC “R ENAISSANCE M AN ”: R ICHARD B. P ARKER T HREE - TIME A MBASSADOR R ICHARD P ARKER WAS A F OREIGN S ERVICE OFFICER FOR 31 YEARS , AND SINCE RETIREMENT HAS CONTINUED TO WRITE AND TEACH . L AST MONTH , AFSA HONORED HIM FOR A LIFETIME OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO A MERICAN DIPLOMACY . B Y S TEVEN A LAN H ONLEY Steven Alan Honley, a Foreign Service officer from 1985 to 1997, is editor of the Journal . O