In this book a former Assistant Secretary of State and Washington insider recalls the lighter moments of a lifetime in politics, diplomacy, intelligence and the foundation world. Based on personal notes jotted down during his official assignments in the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations, and subsequently in the non-governmental universe in Washington, this lively book recounts conversations and episodes of high humor involving American presidents and other leading national figures from the 1950s to the 1980s. Major events, no matter how serious were often laced with humor, even farce. Some of these stories offer rare glimpses into American presidential and political history. Many are hilarious accounts of diplomatic and bureaucratic foibles at home and abroad. Others are tales of rare encounters simply too amusing to lose. Over several decades, the author's choice assignments in Washington gave him unusual opportunities to experience the lighter side of famous Presidents and their advisers. The grander settings range from the White House to the State Department, and from Capitol Hill to Embassy Row. Insightful glimpses of Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson and Hubert Humphrey begin with the author's service in the United States Senate in the 1950s. A sub-cabinet role in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations provided opportunities to know and work with Dean Rusk, Chester Bowles, Robert McNamara, Robert F. Kennedy, Clark Clifford, Averell Harriman, McGeorge Bundy, Richard Helms and John McCone, not to speak of Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover. Later an assignment as deputy ambassador in the American Embassy in London, provided a rich round of amusing anecdotes on Anglo-American relations. as well as colorful insights on Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Ronald Reagan Over the years, official and unofficial assignments took the author all around the world. Encounters abound with such diverse celebrities as Josip Broz Tito, Indira Gandhi, Douglas MacArthur, Munoz Marin, David Bruce, Queen Elizabeth, Fidel Castro, Helmut Schmidt, Lady Astor, Deng Xiaoping, Clare Booth Luce, Richard Holbrooke, and the former German royal family. There are abundant accounts of diplomatic, congressional, and bureaucratic horseplay. This is a book not to be missed for and about Washington insiders.
About the Author: Thomas L. Hughes, a Minnesota native, graduated (1947) with a B.A. summa cum laude from Carleton College. As a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, he earned a B. Phil. and M.A. in Politics (1949). He subsequently graduated from Yale Law School with an LLB (JD) degree (1952). He was admitted to the bar of the US Supreme Court, the DC District Court, and the Supreme Court of Minnesota. After two years as an Air Force officer, he was an administrative assistant on Capitol Hill--first to Senator (later Vice President) Hubert Humphrey (1955-58) and then to Congressman (later Under Secretary of State and Ambassador to India) Chester Bowles (1959-60). At various points he served as an associate professor of political science and international relations for the University of Southern California, George Washington University, and Trinity College (Texas). After serving as Deputy Director for Intelligence and Research in the State Department (1961-63), he was appointed by President Kennedy Director (Assistant Secretary) in April 1963. He continued in that position throughout the Johnson Administration. Under the Nixon Administration in 1969-70, he served as Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission in the American Embassy in London. Subsequently, he was President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in New York and Washington (1971-91). Hughes was chairman of the editorial board of Foreign Policy Magazine during this same period, and was a frequent contributor of articles to professional magazines. He served as chairman of the Mid-Atlantic CLub of Washington and president of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. His trusteeships included: the American Academy of Berlin, the Ditchley Foundation (England), the German Marshall Fund of the US, the Arms Control Association, the Atlantic Council, and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. He served on the university boards of visitors of the graduate schools of foreign affairs at Harvard, Princeton, Denver, Minnesota, and Georgetown.