Bunker's Advice Was Bunk

Author Schaffer has here written a filiopietistic, uncritical book. It is, however, a usable compendium of the life of Ellsworth Bunker and of the diplomatic chores for which he was selected time and again. We learn how he lived the life of a “golden youth” (p. 6), how he studied at Yale, how he eventually became a member of the East Coast “old boys” network (p. 46). Throughout his life he met many influential men who served him as mentors and advocates: Dean Acheson, Averill Harriman, Prescott Bush, Robert Lovett, James A. Farley, John Kenneth Galbraith, Franklin Roosevelt, John Foster Dulles, and Lyndon Johnson—all impressed with Bunker's “patrician style” (pp. 51, 56, and ff.). Initially involved with the sugar industry, Bunker went on to become a power in that field. Then came his diplomatic service: to Argentina, where he “overstated his familiarity with the region” (p. 25). Following his stint there, Dean Acheson sent him to Rome as ambassador. He had never been to Italy and had a serious lack of knowledge regarding Europe in general and Italy in particular. Nor could he speak the language. Not surprisingly, this limited his impact. Neither did he speak Hindi or Vietnamese in later incarnations as ambassador to India and Vietnam and thus was unable to carry on serious professional discussions. He was primarily remembered in later days by others as a “nice gentleman” (p. 39)

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