The Foreign Service Journal, November 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2020 11 Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org In 1961, when President John F. Kennedy assigned my father to serve as deputy to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson, he was delighted to learn that he would be collaborating with Bunche, who was working across the street as Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. As Sir Brian Urquhart wrote to me: “Your father and Bunche, who did not take people into his confidence easily, became close friends and partners.” Necessity drove Bunche and my father to take their friendship to another level. Though the two had a great affection for Amb. Stevenson, they soon realized that he was no longer the incisive and energetic young man they had worked with in San Francisco. As a result, Bunche decided to stay in regular contact with my father over matters of mutual concern in late-night calls to our apartment. “Their frequent talks,” says Urquhart, “were a model of relevance, understanding, analy- sis and constructive thinking.” Neither man was happy about going behind Stevenson’s back, but both men knew that their first duty was to the United Nations, and in my father’s case also to the U.S. government. When Ralph Bunche announced his retirement (on account of medical issues), he recommended to U.N. Secretary General UThant that my father replace him. n Felicity O. Yost United Nations, retired Honolulu, Hawaii