The Protracted Conflict

Bad Godesberg— The ambassador- host shepherded the lingering men into the wake of the ladies moving toward the salon, permitting himself a smiling ambassadorial sort of mot at the expense of his American guest: “We forbid all segregation in this house.” But the ladies, like other recipients of integrationist favors, had their own ideas, and the men soon found themselves isolated with their coffee and brandy in a corner ghetto. The talk moved placidly over familiar surfaces.

The ambassador-guest had been his government’s UN delegate for a number of years, and he spoke of that assignment as a diplomat’s dream wherein political duties were never too onerous to interfere with the vigorous round of New York parties. The question was decorously raised why Mr. Nixon had so long delayed replacement of his man in Paris. The junior diplomat proved himself adept and elegant at phrasing his agreements with his seniors. The political correspondent of the great newspaper—“as influential a man as any in Bonn,” the junior diplomat had remarked in an earlier aside—was amusing about the dispute over wine that had nearly broken up the Common Market. Each had something to say when the American wondered whether noticeable changes had come with the new Chancellor.

JB

About the Author

James Burnham

Bad Godesberg— The ambassador- host shepherded the lingering men into the wake of the ladies moving toward the salon, permitting himself a smiling ambassadorial sort of mot at the expense of his American guest: “We forbid all segregation in this house.” But the ladies, like other recipients of integrationist favors, had their own ideas, and the men soon found themselves isolated with their coffee and brandy in a corner ghetto. The talk moved placidly over familiar surfaces.

The ambassador-guest had been his government’s UN delegate for a number of years, and he spoke of that assignment as a diplomat’s dream wherein political duties were never too onerous to interfere with the vigorous round of New York parties. The question was decorously raised why Mr. Nixon had so long delayed replacement of his man in Paris. The junior diplomat proved himself adept and elegant at phrasing his agreements with his seniors. The political correspondent of the great newspaper—“as influential a man as any in Bonn,” the junior diplomat had remarked in an earlier aside—was amusing about the dispute over wine that had nearly broken up the Common Market. Each had something to say when the American wondered whether noticeable changes had come with the new Chancellor.