The Foreign Service Journal, December 2012

12 DECEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Secretary of State. When Secretary of State Alexander Haig sought expertise to address the Cyprus problem, Eagleburger selected Reg as the first special Cyprus coordinator in 1981. Many at State were dubious about the appointment, assuming Bartholomew would stick with the make-the-dust-fly tactics that were his hallmark. Instead, he assessed the limits of the possible, met all players and only then determined the sides were irreconcilable. Having proved he could control his energies and accept managing rather than resolving problems, Bartholomew was next assigned responsibility for securing a new defense economic coop- eration agreement from an extremely hostile socialist government in Athens. The Greeks assumed that because they were Greeks, they knew the issues bet- ter than any American. But they were wrong: Reg totally outclassed them with innovative, creative tactics that co-opted senior U.S. military officials (who were convinced State wanted to negotiate their bases away) and coordinated his approaches with them. As the negotiations ground on into 1984, Reg grew increasingly frustrated and insisted that the issue was “solved”— he just couldn’t get Athens to agree. But after some top-level nudges, he reached an accord, securing all U.S. objectives without having to deploy most of his “carrots.” If previously he’d possessed strong negotiating credentials, now Bar- tholomew was positively scary for prospective opponents. However, that reputation may actually have undermined his mission to renegotiate our base agree- ments with Spain, where his interlocutors came to see hidden traps in every offer. There was a dark side to Reg’s brilliance. He didn’t suffer fools gra- ciously, and seemed to consign much of the world to that category. And as he rose bureaucratically, his hubris rose commensurately. A mercurial temper became volcanic. He seemed to delight in “Darth Vader” management techniques, substi- tuting outrage for discussion. One FSO, invited to apply for a position, arrived to overhear him screaming at some name- less victim. Quickly determining she already had enough children at home, she withdrew her bid. Reg was the “man in full.” One regrets he left no memoir or oral history. David T. Jones FSO, retired Arlington, Va. Kudos for the Journal As a former Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board member and longtime contributor, I congratulate you on a fine new product! Special kudos for the “Argo” article (“How Hollywood Does History,” Mark Lijek, October). Hans Tuch FSO, retired Bethesda, Md. No Thanks, Tehran Not long after reading your October article, “How Hollywood Does History,” in the newly formatted Foreign Service Journal , I saw the exciting movie “Argo.” That reminded me of my own related his- tory. (The new Journal deserves praise, too, but that’s another story.) In mid-1979, after three years adjudi- cating non-immigrant visas in Manila, I came up for reassignment. Casablanca, Helsinki and Wellington were on the list, but the first two cities were not compat- ible with our children’s educational requirements. So I set my sights on Wel- lington. AFSA Insurance Plans hirshorn.com/afsa AFSPA www.afspa.org AKA Hotel residences stay-aka.com Blue Cross Blue Shield Extras.FEPblue.org Clements Worldwide clements.com Embassy Risk Management Embassyrisk.com Florida Air Academy www.flair.com Hargrave Military Academy www.hargrave.edu/ International School of Berne www.isberne.ch J. Kirby Simon Trust http://www.kirbysimontrust.org Montverde Academy www.montverde.org/ St John’s International School www.stjohns.be TASIS www.tasisengland.org england.tasis.com Tetratech Tetratech.com WJD wjdpm.com