“Florence, it means nothing of the kind. I promised the President I would talk to him. That’s all.”
Florence put her arms around Mary and hugged her. “I just want you to do whatever makes you happy.”
“I know that.”
Stanton Rogers was a formidable man, Mary decided. She had seen him on Meet the Press and in photographs in Time magazine, but she thought: He looks bigger in person. He was polite, but there was something distant about him.
“Permit me to convey again the President’s sincere regrets about your terrible tragedy, Mrs. Ashley.”
“Thank you.”
She introduced him to Beth and Tim. They made small talk while Mary went into the kitchen to see how Lucinda was getting along with the dinner.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Lucinda said. “But he’ll hate it.”
When Mary had told Lucinda that Stanton Rogers was coming to the house for dinner and that she wanted her to make a pot roast, Lucinda had said, “People like Mr. Rogers don’t eat pot roast.”
“Oh? What do they eat?”
“Chateaubriand and crepes suzette.”
“We’re having pot roast.”
“All right,” Lucinda had said stubbornly, “but it’s the wrong dinner.”
Along with the pot roast she had prepared creamed mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables, and a salad. She had baked a pumpkin pie for dessert. Stanton Rogers finished everything on his plate.
During dinner Mary and he discussed the problems of the farmers.
“The farmers in the Midwest are caught in a terrible squeeze between low prices and overproduction,” Mary said earnestly. “They’re too poor to paint, and too proud to white-wash.”
They talked about the colorful history of Junction City, and Stanton Rogers finally brought the discussion around to Romania.
“What is your opinion of President Ionescu’s government?” he asked Mary.
“There is no government in Romania, in the real sense of the word,” Mary replied. “Ionescu is the government. He’s in total control.”
“Do you think there will be a revolution there?”
“Not in the present circumstances. The only man powerful enough to depose him is Marin Groza, who’s in exile in France.”
The questioning went on. She was an expert on the iron curtain countries, and Stanton Rogers was visibly impressed. Mary had the uncomfortable feeling that he had been examining her under a microscope all evening. She was closer to the mark than she knew.
Paul was right, Stanton Rogers thought. She really is an authority on Romania. And there was something more. We need the opposite of the ugly American. She’s beautiful. And she and the children make an ail-American package that will sell. Stanton found himself getting more and more excited by the prospect. She can be more useful than she realizes.
At the end of the evening, Stanton Rogers said, “Mrs. Ashley, I’m going to be frank with you. Initially I was against the President appointing you to a post as sensitive as Romania. I told him as much. I tell you this now because I’ve changed my mind. I think you may very well make an excellent ambassador.”
Mary shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rogers. I’m no politician. I’m just an amateur.”
“As President Ellison pointed out to me, some of our finest ambassadors have been amateurs. That is to say, their experience was not in the foreign service. Walter Annenberg, our former ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was a publisher.”
“I’m not—”
“John Kenneth Galbraith, our ambassador to India, was a professor. Mike Mansfield started out as a reporter before he became a senator and then was appointed our ambassador to Japan. I could give you a dozen more examples. These people were all what you would call amateurs. What they had, Mrs. Ashley, was intelligence, a love for their country, and goodwill toward the people of the country where they were sent to serve.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“As you’re probably aware, you’ve already been investigated very thoroughly. You’ve been approved for a security clearance, you have no problem with the IRS, and there’s no conflict of interest. According to Dean Hunter you’re an excellent teacher, and of course you’re an expert on Romania. You’ve got a running start. And last but not least, you have the kind of image the President wants to project in the iron curtain countries, where they’re fed so much adverse propaganda about us.”