The Foreign Service Journal, September 2013

16 SEPTEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL As the DC Metro Theater Arts preview notes, the problem with a satire focus- ing on the bizarre way the United States chooses its top diplomats “is that many Americans don’t even know that we have diplomats, much less have any idea what they do. Foreign affairs—the armed forces handle that, don’t they? Alas, they do, more and more, partially because of the ridiculous system lampooned in this play.” Similarly, the most common audi- ence reaction in Cambridge was: “Do you Americans actually pick ambassa- dors like that?” The performance this reviewer attended drew a full house, including a healthy representation of AFSA mem- bers. Despite some staging constraints imposed by the venue, and uneven performances from the supporting cast, most of the one-liners landed solidly enough, even with the “lay” members of the audience. However, the skill with which Amb. Butts dispatches a series of professional and personal challenges over the course of the second act could be seen as evidence that non-career chiefs of mission do have their virtues. Henry Butterfield Ryan joined the Foreign Service in 1961, serving with the U.S. Information Agency for the next quarter-century in Brazil, Norway, Australia and Washington, D.C. USIA also sponsored him for an academic year at Harvard, where he earned a master’s degree in public administration. (He later went on leave without pay to earn a doctorate in diplomatic history at Cam- bridge University.) Since retiring from the Foreign Service in 1986, Mr. Ryan has written books in genres ranging from novels to biographies and history, as well as several plays. —Steven Alan Honley, Editor n