The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2016 45 that Moi would be accompanied by his vice president, who was very ambitious and couldn’t wait to sit in the presidential chair. And that was it. I wanted to see how Ali would introduce him- self and his goal of boycotting the Moscow Olympics, and figured that we could pull it off given the receptivity of our Kenyan hosts. Off and Running Moi received us at the presidential palace with all the necessary protocol and began to welcome Ali with a stiff and traditional set of remarks. Ali interrupted him and asked: “Did you always want to be president? Did you have a plan, and did you follow it?” At first startled, Moi then said: “No, I always wanted to be a teacher, and I just did my job and events took over.” Ali rejoined: “That’s right. You just did your job and served your country. You had no driving ambition to be president, unlike some people we know”—and he looked straight at the vice president! Now I’ve done it, I thought. We’re going to have a major diplomatic incident. But no—Moi instantly dropped his stoic demeanor, warmed up to Ali and proceeded to literally block the vice president out of the conversation. Things went swim- mingly, and the press release was just what Washington wanted. We were off and running. Or so I thought, until I looked at the next programmed stop on the itinerary: Nigeria. I sent an urgent message to the State Department reminding them that the Nigerians were not at all on the same wavelength as we were on almost every issue, and certainly not on the question of the Moscow Olympics. I strongly recommended that we cancel the stop in Lagos and reroute the plane to Kinshasa, where President Mobutu Sese Seko would guarantee us a huge crowd and solid support for our position. Washington responded that Mobutu was not the ally they wanted to put front and center on this trip—and, besides, we had been told that the president of Nigeria and a host of senior ministers had agreed to meet with us. The score so far: one loss in Tanzania, one win in Kenya and a technical KO by Ali in Nigeria. Ali spars with a Kenyan fan after deplaning at Nairobi’s International Airport on Feb. 4, 1980. As the plane taxied at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, one of the cabin crew came to me to say that I had a call on the radio in the cockpit. When I picked up the handset and identified myself, an American voice said: “Just wanted to warn you that all of your appointments have been canceled.” I asked who was on the line, but it had gone dead. Arriving at the plane’s exit door, the champ asked me who we had for the first appointment. I told him that there was a slight change in plans, and that we would go first to the U.S. ambas- sador’s office. As we settled into our chairs, I asked the ambassador to explain to Ali where we stood on the appointments. When the champ heard that they had all canceled, he stood up in a fury and said he was going to take his plane and return to the United States. ASSOCIATEDPRESS