The Foreign Service Journal, November 2008

Korea and India. He was drafted and trained for the invasion of Japan, but with the war over he was assigned to the Japanese Occupation. He married a Japanese woman but found himself on the “wrong” side of the Oriental Exclusion laws. Through his work and experiences in Asia, the memoir offers valuable insight into cross-cultural exchanges, public diplomacy, the failures of U.S. immigration laws and interracial marriage. He also explains how to make use of Foreign Service skills during retirement. Hugh L. Burleson II was educated at the University of California at Berkeley and had a 31-year Foreign Service career with the U.S. Information Agency. In retirement, he and his wife continue their journey by working in nonprofits with global interests, staying informed with frequent visits to Asia, and translating Japanese articles. Tchaikovsky 19, A Diplomatic Life Behind the Iron Curtain Robert F. Ober Jr, Xlibris, 2008, $23.99, paperback, 480 pages. Robert Ober’s book succeeds on several levels: as a memoir, Cold War history and meditation on the role of lan- guage in current Foreign Service policy. As the book’s title suggests, the author, who entered the Foreign Service in 1961, worked at the American embassy on Tchaikov- sky Street in Moscow for seven years, on three different assignments, between 1972 and 1987. He shares experiences from his personal life and diplomatic career, giving an insider’s view of Cold War policy and drawing attention to key issues cur- rently affecting the Foreign Service. Readers will discover the failures of Kissinger’s pol- icy of détente in the early 1970s, the mistaken depar- ture from Carter’s balanced policy toward China and the USSR, and the near-collapse of the embassy due to intelligence failures. The author also describes how he fared personally behind the Iron Curtain, cultivating friendships in the face of communist surveillance and dealing with politics as he and his family performed their everyday routines. Of particularly timely concern N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27