I usually do not travel in diplomatic circles. But thanks to former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth, head of the United Nations Foundation and a longtime colleague, I had the good fortune to spend a day and a half with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in the fall of 2001.
Holbrooke, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1999 to 2001 and worked for every Democratic president since the late 1960s, died last month.
Based on Wirth’s suggestion, Holbrooke agreed to be the keynote speaker at the University of Colorado’s Graduate School of Public Affairs Annual Investment in Excellence Dinner.
Wanting to take advantage of Holbrooke’s presence, I overbooked him. In one and a half days, he participated in a book signing, talked to students, held a press conference on world events, and did a major speech at the dinner.
For me, it was a wonderful, often exotic, always interesting and sometimes very funny experience. He was one of the smartest people I ever met. He was the original multitasker. While we were together, he was constantly questioning me about my views of then current political, and foreign policy issues. Who were my favorite presidential candidates? What was likely to happen in Eastern Europe now that the wall in Germany had come down? Knowing his brilliant reputation, I did my best sometimes to answer his questions with a question. He was always insightful, engaging and challenging.
Our conversations were intermittently interrupted by phone calls to the ambassador from New York, Paris, London and many other places. Some appeared related to his capital investment firm; others were calls from foreign leaders seeking his view of varied world crises. After every call, without skipping a beat, he continued our conversation. At the same time, he accepted interruptions from students and faculty anxious to have him sign one or more of his books. It was quite an experience. He was a supreme intellectual whirling dervish.
I’ll always remember how we spent the one morning we had together during his visit. It was bitter cold in Denver, with a wind chill factor of 12 degrees below zero. Since we were being driven around from appointment to appointment by one of my students, the ambassador, despite my suggestions, decided to go “Kennedy style” — that is, without an overcoat.
Everything was going well until the end of the second student presentation. We walked outside to be picked up by the student driver. It was very cold. It would have been great to get into a heated car for the five-minute trip to the hotel for the press conference. However, no driver — or car — was in sight.
Holbrooke and I were freezing. I offered him my overcoat; he did not take it. He and I knew that the planned press conference with former Gov. Richard Lamm, and Sen. Wirth was to begin in 10 minutes at a downtown hotel.
I became consumed by thinking through options to get to the press conference. After all, the absence of driver and car was my problem. Friends could not get to where we were in time. Walking would have made us very late. Denver is not a taxi town, and the time between booking a cab and its arrival could take 20 or more minutes.
The ambassador used the cellphone to create his own reality — receiving and taking calls from what sounded like somewhat exotic and clearly warmer places. In between calls, he, in his best stern diplomatic voice, asked me if I had thought of a way to get to the hotel. I knew then what Milosevic and Karzai must have felt.
I decided the only way we could make the press conference would be to hitchhike, something I had not done for almost 40 years and something I am sure he had not done for almost as long. He graciously said let’s go ahead.
I was able to flag down an old farm-to-market truck filled with straw. Not your usual Lincoln diplomatic car. I asked the driver if he would take the ambassador and me to the hotel. I am sure he thought I was a bit crazy. “Ambassador who?” he responded. I dutiful gave him a quick summary of the ambassador’s resume. It must have made no sense to him at all. But he agreed to take us.
Holbrooke got in the back seat filled mostly with straw and the smells of the barnyard. I got in the front seat to help the driver find the hotel. We got to the press conference just on time. Holbrooke was erudite; Lamm and Wirth were insightful.
I cannot remember the subject of the press conference. But it made the paper the next morning. Everyone was pleased.
Marshall Kaplan is executive director of the Merage Foundations in Newport Beach, Calif., and a former dean of the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado.
