The Foreign Service Journal, October 2004

A PPRECIATION Tributes to An Outstanding Diplomat Hume Alexander Horan 1934 – 2004 O C T O B E R 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 67 n Appreciation of the late Amb. Hume Horan, who died July 22, appeared in the September issue of the Journal . In response to an AFSANET message announcing Amb. Horan’s passing, the Journal received so many tributes from friends and colleagues that we were unable to publish them all in September. Here are the balance. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor A R ARE C OMMODITY Mentors and cheerleaders are so important to a success- ful Foreign Service career. Truly outstanding mentors are a rare commodity. Hume Horan was a member of that elite and distinguished group. Hume’s philosophy for selecting DCMs was to identify officers who were likely to achieve the rank of ambassador themselves. He sought out self-confi- dent deputies. His track record in identifying such persons was phenomenal. But Hume failed to appreciate that it was not so much his choice of deputies as it was his mentoring and nurturing that allowed them to move into ambassadorial positions. I had the privilege of serving as Hume’s deputy in Yaoundé and Khartoum. I was one of the lucky beneficiaries of Hume’s very personal ambassadorial training program. I am deeply indebted to Hume Horan’s friendship and guidance. David Shinn Ambassador, retired Washington, D.C. A F IRST -R ATE L EADER Hume was a first-rate mentor and leader, and he extend- ed these skills across two generations. In the 1980s, as the U.S. ambassador in Cameroon and Sudan, he mentored and taught my father — his DCM at both posts — the essence of being an ambassador. In 1993, he became my mentor. I was a novice writer, free-lancing for a Washington state newspa- per during a yearlong African journey. During an extended Christmas visit in Abidjan, where Hume was also ambas- sador, he coached me on how to tailor the travel articles, and edited the initial four or five stories. His advice and encour- agement then, and periodic e-mails over the years, led me to more significant successes in the years that followed. The last time I saw Hume and his wife Lori, he had invit- ed my wife and me, and my parents, to their house in Georgetown. It was a special occasion. With characteristic enthusiasm for a profession he adored and epitomized, he toasted my recent success in the Foreign Service oral exami- nations. Cheers to the quintessential diplomat: Hume Horan. Chris Shinn Country Director America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc. Jerusalem F RIENDLY AND U NPRETENTIOUS I only met Amb. Horan once, in the 1990s, at FSI. I think he spoke at one of my classes. Afterwards, in a cocky way, I went up and began speaking with him in Arabic. I was a JO and he was the ambassador mentioned in The Arabists as the model of success, but he was incredibly warm, friendly and unpretentious. I felt I was in the presence of a human being who had gone a long way toward being what God planned for him to be, and I won’t forget him. Craig White Refugee Coordinator Nairobi A N U NCOMMON A PPROACHABILITY I never worked with or for Amb. Horan, but I did come to know him in the corridors of the Foreign Service Institute. I think that, in itself, says a lot about his approachability and A