Word: atherton
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
What happened to the "spirit of Jerusalem"? Though U.S. Special Envoy Alfred ("Roy") Atherton resumed his shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Cairo last week, the peace process is essentially stalled. Both sides have made mistakes, but most dispassionate observers place the larger share of the blame on Israel and its doctrinaire Premier. Few of his countrymen would fault Begin for his aims or his principles, but a growing number disapprove of his tactics as a peacemaker, as TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Donald Neff reported last week...
Instead of all this, Atherton is taking on an arduous mission that may run for years and still end in failure. His glimpses of the Mediterranean will be limited to what he can see on shuttle flights between Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus (as well as Amman and Riyadh). One consolation at least is that Wife Betty will be along...
...Atherton's new job is all the more difficult because he will be following in the contrails of both his own boss and Henry Kissinger. As Secretaries of State, they were able to speak directly for their Presidents, and could make decisions on the spot. While Atherton clearly lacks that kind of authority, he is ideally suited for the latest shuttle. Reason: he is more familiar than any other American diplomat with the technical problems that will dominate the political discussions...
...career in Eu rope. After a stint in West Germany, he was transferred to State's Near Eastern and South Asian bureau-NEA in Foggy Bottom shorthand-and given assignments in Damascus and the Syrian city of Aleppo in the turbulent 1950s. While based in Syria, Atherton defied an unwritten State Department rule by taking a vacation in Israel, on the theory that it would help him understand both sides of the Middle East controversy...
Reassigned to Washington in 1965, Atherton rose steadily, from desk officer to director for Israel and Arab-Israel Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for NEA under Joseph J. Sisco and finally, in 1974, Assistant Secretary. A workaholic, he spends at least twelve hours a day six days a week and half of Sunday in his office...