The George Schultz Diplomat Test
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https://adst.org/oral-history/fascinating-figures/george-shultz-country-united-states/
MILLER: George Shultz, for many of us, was like God. He was a really good guy… He’d have all new ambassadors in to his office, one at a time, as they went out for a five, maybe 10 minute chat.
And he’d say, “OK, Mr. Ambassador or Madame Ambassador, you’ve passed all the tests. You’ve been confirmed by the Senate and you’ve passed your security investigation. You’ve done all the things to get the position of ambassador, but you have to pass my test. I have one more for you.” And he’d take them over in the Secretary’s office to where there was this massive globe, and he’d say, “I’m going to spin the globe and I want you to put your hand on your country.”
Shultz would tell this story, and he said, “Every single one of them failed. But I let them go anyway.” Because whenever he spun the globe and he’d say, “I want you to put your hand on your country,” they’d always put their hand on the country that they were going out to. His point was your country is the United States.
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I commented that this sort of idea, a simple reminder that international politics is a game where you should favor your own country, was part of Trump's appeal. Certainly, no democrat would express such an idea as if it were a simple and incontrovertible truth.
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@George-K said in The George Schultz Diplomat Test:
Shultz would tell this story, and he said, “Every single one of them failed. ..."
According to the story, by Mr. Shultz's own admission, these are all people who have "passed all the tests.[...] confirmed by the Senate and you’ve passed your security investigation." -- yet they all "failed" Mr. Shultz's "last test."
You've got to ask: what has the Foreign Service been teaching and testing these people, what have the Senate been doing to vet these people, such that they all "passed" everything only to fail Mr. Shultz's all important, all illuminating test?
If the subject of Mr. Shultz's "test" is so important, so illuminating, the Foreign Service should have made it a fundamental part of its training, rather than leave it to Mr. Shultz to point it out after all the training, testing, and Senate confirmation are done.
May be it already is part of the Foreign Service's training. I am more inclined to think that this story regarding Mr. Shultz's "test" is apocryphal.
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@George-K said in The George Schultz Diplomat Test:
Shultz would tell this story, and he said, “Every single one of them failed. ..."
According to the story, by Mr. Shultz's own admission, these are all people who have "passed all the tests.[...] confirmed by the Senate and you’ve passed your security investigation." -- yet they all "failed" Mr. Shultz's "last test."
You've got to ask: what has the Foreign Service been teaching and testing these people, what have the Senate been doing to vet these people, such that they all "passed" everything only to fail Mr. Shultz's all important, all illuminating test?
If the subject of Mr. Shultz's "test" is so important, so illuminating, the Foreign Service should have made it a fundamental part of its training, rather than leave it to Mr. Shultz to point it out after all the training, testing, and Senate confirmation are done.
May be it already is part of the Foreign Service's training. I am more inclined to think that this story regarding Mr. Shultz's "test" is apocryphal.
@Axtremus said in The George Schultz Diplomat Test:
@George-K said in The George Schultz Diplomat Test:
Shultz would tell this story, and he said, “Every single one of them failed. ..."
According to the story, by Mr. Shultz's own admission, these are all people who have "passed all the tests.[...] confirmed by the Senate and you’ve passed your security investigation." -- yet they all "failed" Mr. Shultz's "last test."
You've got to ask: what has the Foreign Service been teaching and testing these people, what have the Senate been going to vet these people, such that they all "passed" everything only to fail Mr. Shultz's all important, all illuminating test?
If the subject of Mr. Shultz's "test" is so important, so illuminating, the Foreign Service should have made it a fundamental part of its training, rather than leave it for Mr. Shultz to point it out after all the training, testing, and Senate confirmation are done.
May be it already is part of the Foreign Service's training. I am more inclined to think that this story regarding Mr. Shultz's "test" is apocryphal.
Our Ax post of the day.
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That is why most foreign ministries always rotate their statesmen. They do not want people to get too attached to a foreign country.
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Foggy Mind, meet Foggy Bottom...
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
