Title:A Master Class in Diplomacy.

• Author: Rickert, Jonathan
• Position: Meeting between Lawrence Eagleburger and Romania's Nicu Ceausescu

Text:

Nicu Ceausescu, the wastrel younger son of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena, was widely believed in the 1980s to be the heir apparent to his father. Unlike his older siblings, Valentin and Zoia, he had been an indifferent student and was more interested in drinking, gambling, and carousing than in any more serious pursuits. Nevertheless, by the 1980s he held high positions in the Romanian Communist Party and government while still in his early thirties--he was First Secretary of the Union of Communist Youth and a member of the Party's Central Committee, as well as deputy in the parliament and Minister of Youth Affairs. Higher-level positions awaited him.

In mid-September 1983, during my assignment as Romania Desk Officer at the State Department, the Romanian Embassy approached me for help in setting up a meeting for Nicu at the highest possible level. Although he was considered a lightweight and his visit to the U.S. was little more than a junket, my Romanian Embassy colleagues obviously were terrified lest he be dissatisfied with his reception in Washington, with possibly unpleasant consequences for themselves and their careers. They were desperate to arrange something for Nicu that would give his Washington stay at least the appearance of substance. After some discussion within our office, we dutifully sent forward an appointment request for him to meet with Under Secretary for Political Affairs Lawrence Eagleburger, with little expectation that the third highest ranking official in the department would agree.

Earlier in his career, Eagleburger had two tours of duty in Yugoslavia, the second as Ambassador. During his first Belgrade assignment, in 1963, he had earned the sobriquet of "Lawrence of Macedonia" for his outstanding efforts in support of earthquake-stricken Skopje. He was the State Department's top "go-to" man for issues involving the Balkans and, indeed, all of communist Eastern Europe.

In contrast to the stereotype of a buttoned-down diplomat, Eagleburger was described by Time Magazine in 1992 as looking "like the Michelin Man with a cane." His success in tense crisis situations, along with his wit and charm, earned him near-legendary status within the State Department. Eagleburger eventually served briefly as Secretary of State, the only career foreign service officer ever to hold the department's top position.

Much to our surprise, Eagleburger not only accepted the proposed meeting but ended up...