Last night we had a delightful dinner with Jim and Gary to celebrate Jim’s birthday. As usual, they had some interesting friends there as well. One is the managing partner for Baker and Botts – a woman from Mississippi who still carries an extra strong southern accent. She can be very entertaining.
They also had three neighbors over for the dinner.
It was a great meal – we started with a pink Veuve Clicquot champagne with some cheese straws, and several selections of nice artisanal cheeses.
The three neighbors were a mother, father, and their daughter who had recently graduated from Northwestern with a masters in Journalism. She was moving to The Hague to work for a non-profit organizations that helps journalists do good deeds in third world countries.
Her father, who must have been in his mid to late 70s had been an executive at Gulf Oil. But his earlier work history is what intrigued us.
He served in the US Army during WWII (he must have been very young) and as soon as he got out he went to the Harvard Business School. After graduating from there, he went to work for the US Foreign Service. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear US Foreign Service in the early 1950s I think of only one thing – CIA.
He started his service in Copenhagen (you know, part of that alliance thing) and the was posted to Saigon in 1953. The Quiet American! While he denied any association with covert operations, well, that is what he would have to say.
After Saigon he was posted to Phnom Penh! What a coincidence. Doreen and I are heading to PP this November.
While he stayed with his story about being only a Foreign Service employee, you could see that he was dying to tell the true story.
Maybe after a couple of drinks we will get to the bottom of it all.
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