The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

44 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the midst of a tumultuous press conference, with the African press insisting that he had fallen into a trap laid by the imperialists, a plot that intended to use Africa’s hero to undercut its revolutionary goals. Ali looked upset and announced that if he was being misled, as the press suggested, he would take his plane and return to the United States forthwith. I imagined the headlines back home. Finally getting to his side, I introduced myself and the pur- pose of our mission together. Ali said nothing, but we got in the car together and had a good exchange, with me outlining how I might be able to brief him before key meet- ings. Ali said that sounded good to him, and we pulled into the hotel parking lot—where the champ jumped out and began to shadow box with members of the crowd that had assembled to greet him. It looked like good fun to me, but then a group of Black Panthers who were in exile in Tanzania swept Ali upstairs and into their room. I tried to keep up, but could only stand help- less at the door, imploring the champ to let me in. I could hear the Panthers telling him the same thing the African press had preached at the airport, and I wondered if my mission was dead aborning. When Ali came out, he announced that he was hungry, so we went to his room and I witnessed for the first time the gargan- tuan amount of food the champ could put down. The next day, we learned that President Julius Nyerere had canceled his meet- ing with Ali, citing the same line as the press and the Panthers had used. Again, I imagined the headlines back home. The next day, as we flew to Nairobi, Kenya, I told the champ that we would have an easier time with President Daniel Arap Moi, a strong ally. Ali asked me to describe Moi and to brief him on the politics of Kenya and the approach to take. I thought for about three seconds and told him that Moi was a schoolteacher from a minority tribe who had served as vice president with the founder of Kenya, a strong and authoritarian ruler who brooked no interference with his wishes. I mentioned “Surprised to find you here, Lannon, and intrigued by the mes- sage I have been asked by Washington to relay to you,” said he. As I read the telegram from the State Department, I couldn’t believe my eyes: I was being instructed to leave Angola immedi- ately and to make my way to Tanzania. In Dar es Salaam, I was to meet Muhammad Ali, who would arrive from India in a White House plane, accompanied by members of the White House press corps and a State Department delegation. Thence, I was to accompany Ali, as his diplomatic adviser, to several countries in Africa to persuade their leaders to boycott the Moscow Summer Olympics because of the recent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan! It took a while, but my British colleague finally persuaded me that it was, indeed, an official instruction fromWashington. An Imperialist Trap After a nightmare trip involving three plane changes, I finally arrived at the Dar es Salaam airport, just minutes before Ali’s plane landed. Unfortunately, a huge crowd had already formed, and there was no way I could get through to meet Ali as he came down the stairs and was immediately swept away to the airport lounge. When I finally fought my way into the lounge, Ali was in Muhammad Ali meets with Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya, on Feb. 5, 1980, during the Olympic boycott mission. ASSOCIATEDPRESS