The Foreign Service Journal, November 2012

60 NOVEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL SEPTEMBER SONG, UNITEDNATIONS EDITION A member of the U.S. delegation to the September 1973 United Nations General Assembly session learns some valuable lessons about the art of diplomacy. BY JACK SUL L I VAN Jack Sullivan was a longtime staff member of the House Foreign Af- fairs Committee. He later served on Jimmy Carter’s presidential tran- sition team and as assistant administrator of USAID for East Asia. T he legislation by which the U.S. Congress ratified U.S. membership in the United Nations stipu- lated that a group of private American citizens and members of Congress would be part of the U.S. delegation to the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly each autumn in New York City. In 1973 it was the turn of two House members to attend and, by virtue of my seniority on the staff of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, I was assigned to go with them. The State Department rented us an office in a nearby building and pro- vided a secretary. My primary mandate was to keep the House members happy. From the beginning things went badly. Henry Kissinger had just been named U.S. Secretary of State, having successfully undermined the incumbent, William Rogers, with President Richard Nixon. Kissinger was anxious to be part of the U.S. delegation at the opening ceremonies of the