FOREIGN RELATIONS

Diplomatic Dearth

When the top U.S. diplomat in Bonn requests an appointment with Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger, it is presumably to discuss a subject of considerable import to both of their governments. Thus it raised eyebrows recently--and provoked some snickers--when American Charge d'Affaires Russell Fessenden was kept waiting while the ambassador of a small Latin American country paid a formal courtesy call on West Germany's chief executive. There was nothing Kiesinger could do about it; by diplomatic protocol, an ambassador has automatic precedence over any lesser rank.

The incident did, however, point up the fact that there has been no U.S. ambassador in Bonn since Henry Cabot Lodge left in January. President Nixon has looked hard for a replacement, and has been turned down by at least three candidates. The situation in Bonn underscores the new Administration's difficulty in filling even the most prized ambassadorial posts. At week's end, it was reported that Nixon had finally found a man for Bonn. But even so, 18 ambassadorships remain vacant. And Nixon has retained about 60 holdovers, including the significantly high number of 18 political appointees.

Envoy Ennui. Though the White House maintains that Nixon is anxious to pick ambassadors with particular care, there are more than a few signs that the Administration simply has not been able to find men of the right caliber to fill such important posts. Tokyo was a case in point. After being turned down by at least four men, including John D. Rockefeller III and former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton, Nixon selected a little-known career officer, Armin Meyer, who is experienced in Mideast affairs but a newcomer to the Far East. Unlike his two predecessors, who were influential with John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, Meyer is not, and this at a time of increased strain between the two nations. The Japanese made no secret of their disappointment. Nixon has retained the Johnson Administration's appointees in such key spots as Paris, Rome and Saigon.

With the possible exception of former Senator Kenneth Keating in India, the Nixon appointees are the Foreign Service's blandest, most faceless cast of characters of the post-World War II era. Even Keating is a rank amateur compared to his predecessor, Chester Bowles. At the purple and ermine Court of St. James's, Philadelphia Publisher Walter Annenberg, who is inarticulate and inexperienced in diplomacy, replaced a brilliant and popular Foreign Service veteran, David K. E. Bruce. At the U.N., Charles Yost, an able but relatively obscure professional, moved into the chair once warmed by such noted men as Adlai Stevenson and Arthur Goldberg.

There were wounded feelings in other capitals besides Tokyo. The Argentines were chagrined when John Davis Lodge was shunted to Buenos Aires, after the notably uninterested envoy's appointment to the Organization of American States was overruled by Secretary of State William Rogers. At OAS, Joseph J. Jova, another minor-league professional, last week was named to replace Sol Linowitz, a successful lawyer-businessman with close ties to L.B.J. Latins fear this means that Nixon will downplay OAS.

Post Downgraded. Washington observers conclude that Nixon wants men who will merely execute, rather than offer constructive policy suggestions or innovations of their own. As Governor Rockefeller's Latin American tours have shown, the President will not hesitate to go outside regular State Department channels when he seeks fresh ideas and recommendations. This leaves the ambassador as little more than a message carrier and high-ranking partygoer, a post wanted by few big businessmen or college professors, who are traditional ambassadorial sources.

Meanwhile, Charge Fessenden, 53, a career diplomat, soldiers on in his efficient, unobtrusive way in Bonn. Says Fessenden of the ambassadorial void: "In the day-to-day business of the embassy, it doesn't cause any trouble. As charge, I can see anyone I want to. But for the psychology of the host country, an ambassador is important. He is the chief representative, and sooner or later you have to have a man with the prestige and the personal representation of the President."

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