The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 17 ‘A Love Letter to Diplomacy’ A Q&A with David Holbrooke O n Nov. 2, HBO will release the film “The Diplomat, ” the story of Richard Holbrooke as presented by documentary filmmaker David Holbrooke, the ambas- sador’s eldest son. For those of us working at the State Department during Holbrooke’s time, the film is powerfully evocative. I, myself, can’t help recalling one oddly quiet, all-night shift in the Operations Center in 1998, when we wrote a spoof log that included an entry that went something like this: 1:30 a.m., Richard Holbrooke called, just to say goodnight. It was funny because it was the polar opposite of the Richard Holbrooke who called the ops center many times a day and often through the night—brusque, demanding, consumed, all business and, in fact, critically important to all that was going on with the Balkans and the Kosovo crisis of the time. We never thought then about the fact that Richard Holbrooke had kids, that he probably did say goodnight, when possible, to those he loved. So it was a particular honor to be able to talk to David Holbrooke about his father, as I did in a recent email exchange repro- duced here. —Shawn Dorman, Editor Foreign Service Journal: Can you give us a brief synopsis of the film? David Holbrooke: “ The Diplomat” looks at the life and career of my father Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. It is my effort to retrace his own personal and professional journey. Because he was so immersed in the world of foreign policy, the film is also about the history of Ameri- can diplomatic efforts from Vietnam to Afghanistan. FSJ: Why did you decide to do this project? DH: My father died suddenly in December of 2010 and when we memo- rialized him at the Kennedy Center a month later, I sat on stage with Presidents Obama and Clinton, Hillary Clinton and other major figures. Listening to their sto- ries of his life, I realized my father was an historical figure, something that I hadn’t fully appreciated before that moment. I set out on this challenging journey for several reasons. I knew I had to get to know himbetter and felt he had something more to say. I also wantedmy children to have a better understanding of their grandfather who they didn’t see enough. My other hope was to inspire young people to want to go into the Foreign Service. FSJ: What was it like growing up as the son of Richard Holbrooke? DH: I think any kid growing up in an abnormal situation thinks it is normal to a point, so to be meeting heads of state and other dignitaries seemed par for the course. But he was always on the go and rarely around to be a father in a regular way. He did like to do fun things; we would routinely go to movies and theater, and he also loved video games—which is funny to think about now. Of course, I had a good sense of his work from the news, but when I look back, all I understood were the broad strokes. He never really engaged withmy brother Anthony andme about what he was doing. What we learned, we picked up fromover- hearing his conversations on the phone. Now, after spending four years making the film and spending time in the places he worked with friends, staff and journal- ists, I have come to appreciate the fine details of the craft of diplomacy and how challenging it is. Richard Holbooke with his children, David (at right) and Anthony. PETE SOUZA/COURTESY OF HBO