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Networking for Canada:
Allan Gotlieb pursued the people who mattered
Montreal Gazette
Saturday, December 16, 2006
ADAM DAIFALLAH
THE WASHINGTON DIARIES, 1981-1989
By Allan Gotlieb
McClelland & Stewart,
649 pages, $39.99
One of the finest compliments
ever paid to Ambassador Allan Gotlieb was related to him by
Conrad Black. As Gotlieb writes in one of the entries in The
Washington Diaries, the eminence grise of U.S. foreign policy,
Henry Kissinger, told Black that Gotlieb was "the only Canadian
ambassador I've met with whom you can have a discussion about
something other than migratory birds."
Kissinger's remark
may seem trivial, even snooty. But in a city where hundreds
of lawyers, lobbyists, ambassadors and other assorted officials
are unceasingly jockeying for the attention of decision-makers,
it illustrates the amazing success Gotlieb had during his
eight-year tenure in Washington.
In this voluminous
book, Gotlieb recounts every significant event he took part
in or observed during these event-filled years. His diary
entries, published with helpful biographical footnotes for
the many names mentioned, make for a most insightful, revealing
history of Canada-U.S. relations during the Reagan era. Gotlieb
comes across as intelligent, confidant, ambitious and genuine.
Very genuine. (He admits in the preface that the diary was
not written with a view to future publication, but not every
entry was used in the book.)
Gotlieb describes the
job of an ambassador as "salesman, promoter, public-relations
operator, huckster, animateur, impresario and lobbyist." By
any objective measure, he excelled at all of these. Working
very much in partnership with his irrepressible wife, Sondra,
he set out to ingratiate himself with the Washington establishment
by attending endless dinners, receptions and cocktail parties,
and wooing the important players. The Gotliebs became the
toast of the town, becoming close to such pivotal figures
as Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, Democratic
Party elder statesman Robert Strauss and Reagan administration
officials like George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger.
A big part of what
makes this book compelling is that Gotlieb was privy to so
many interesting events. He was in Washington during a most
complex and consequential time in bilateral relations. He
had the rare challenge of having to represent and advocate
the policies of two very different governments to the same
people: first Trudeau, who was strongly disliked by the Reagan
administration for his protectionist economic policies and
tolerance for communism, and Brian Mulroney, a pro-American
who got along well with Reagan and shared many of the same
conservative views.
Gotlieb recounts everything
from how the big deals were hatched - he played a key role
in coaxing the Americans into an acid rain treaty, and lobbied
hard for free trade - to the minutiae of handling Canadian
politicians' visits to Washington, to the challenges of piercing
the bureaucratic walls protecting Washington's senior decision-makers.
No important event in Gotlieb's Washington experience is left
untouched - not even Sondra's infamous slap of one of the
household staff in 1986.
Gotlieb also shares
his views on a wide number of politicians, displaying no particular
preference for one political party over another. He had a
clear distaste for Flora MacDonald, Mulroney's first foreign
affairs minister, as well as for Jean Chretien ("a man who
doesn't read and doesn't listen ... an egotist, no man to
lead a country.")
But his most trenchant
observations are probably those he makes about Trudeau. Gotlieb
was sincerely conflicted about the man, at once admiring his
charisma and belief in federalism, but being quite troubled
by the wild contradictions in his politics and his arrogance.
One detects a sincere admiration and respect for Mulroney's
abilities, despite admitting his clear preference for John
Turner in 1984, mainly due to the fact they attended Oxford
together.
This book contains
two main lessons. The first is the importance of keeping a
diary. Everyone should. The second is that diplomacy is really
only about one thing: personal relationships. Gotlieb pursued
the people who mattered and exploited the network he created
to get results.
Anyone who has even
a mild interest in Canada-U.S. relations, the politics of
the 1980s, the Washington social scene or who just wants a
better understanding of how consular affairs work ought to
read this book. You won't find a better account.
Adam Daifallah , a former Washington correspondent
for the New York Sun, is a law student at Laval University
and co-author of Rescuing Canada's Right: Blueprint for
a Conservative Revolution, published by John Wiley &
Sons.
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