More Than Just Diplomacy.

AuthorJohnson, Joe B.
PositionBook review

The State Department: More Than Just Diplomacy by George Gedda, Author House, 2014, ISBN 13: 978-1-4918-5761-8, 161 pp., $16.04 (Amazon paperback), $26.59 (hardcover)

Millions of Americans are hearing and reading about Hillary Clinton's experience as Secretary of State. But if you're seeking a picture of how the State Department really works, you could do better with this easy read by an Associated Press correspondent who covered the Department for nearly forty years.

George Gedda was already a senior among the accredited press corps when I landed in the Press Relations Office as interim director in April 1999. During the daily press briefings the grey-haired, suited and bespectacled Associated Press reporter was quieter than his AP colleague Barry Schweid. But he was highly respected, distinguished for his in-depth knowledge of Latin American affairs. Gedda retired in 2007, and while his book draws on up-to-date information, it does not touch on the Clinton period.

There's a contrast between the book's dark grey cover and its premise: "the personalities, turf battles, danger zones for diplomats, exotic datelines, miscast appointees, the laughs and sadly, the occasional homicide." Inside, you get the same dissonance. The anecdotes are amusing; the prose, deadpan.

Don't expect titillation, but settle in for amusement. The media reporters get a unique view of the State Department from their warren of offices on the second floor near the press briefing room. They're showered with information but physically confined to semipublic areas of the building. And they have the daily task of figuring out what in the way of foreign relations may have news value for the average consumer of news.

Ironically, the book may appeal especially to those who have worked in Foggy Bottom, not to John Q. Public. More to the point, if I still had to write speeches about the State Department and foreign relations I would keep the volume close at hand and steal material on a regular basis.

Gedda's book begins with a sketch of every Secretary of State during his tenure, beginning with Henry Kissinger and ending with Condoleezza Rice. This chronological account of the secretaries, taking about 50 pages, covers the circumstances of each one's arrival and departure and describes the major developments that marked their tenures. Call it "The Twelve Caesars" in miniature.

Each profile captures that secretary's standing with the President, the National Security Advisor and...

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