Chapter 91: The State Department

Tuesday, June 8, 1971

I was sitting with Adriana, connecting her to everyone else so she could talk with them, when suddenly, Catherine and the others, except for Kalani, rose to their feet as the State Department delegation entered the reception area.

“Michael, you need to handle the introductions,” Catherine thought to me as they approached. So I stepped towards the approaching delegation.

“Mr. Wagner?” the leading gentleman asked.

When I nodded and extended my hand, he took it, saying, “I’m John Burns, the DG (Director General of the United States Foreign Service).” He then proceed to introduce Marion Ewing, The Secretary of State’s Chief of Staff, and the three other staff members with them.

I returned the courtesy, introducing the Tapatoan Delegation, starting with the Queen. This group was definitely used to dealing with royalty, as there was ample respect, but they were not in awe.

“Secretary of State Rogers sends his apologies. He is tied up on an overseas phone call, and has been detained. He asks that we go ahead and get started and he’ll join us as soon as he’s free. If you’ll follow me,” Mr. Burns said.

We were led to a conference room with a long table and maybe two dozen very comfortable chairs. The windows along the outside wall allowed an unobstructed view of the Lincoln Memorial, across the way.

The details of the meeting were mostly of the boring kind. The formal part, the decision to establish diplomatic relations had already been made by the White House.

Secretary of State Rogers’ task was to make it happen.

When a frustrated Bill Rogers finally joined us right before lunch, I scanned him and was able to see that his frustration was not with establishing diplomatic ties with Tapato, but with this particular White House’s tendency to make decisions on foreign policy without consulting him or the State Department until after the policy was made. This was contrary to tradition, where former Presidents had relied on their Secretary of State to help formulate as well as implement foreign policy.

When Mr. Burns introduced the Queen, The Secretary bowed in the traditional British manner, from the waist.

“Please, there is no need for this formality,” Kalani told him.

“Your Majesty. I attended the Foreign Service School for six weeks to learn that bow. And this is my very first opportunity to use it. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance. Did I do it correctly?” he asked warmly.

“Perfectly,” Kalani smiled at Bill Rogers’ gentle charm. She introduced her daughters and Mr. Rogers had something to say to each of them.

I was surprised to find he had been a lieutenant commander, aboard the USS Intrepid, during World War II. He shared his memories of his one brief stop in Tapato, during the war, and expressed his heartfelt congratulations that Tapato was finally being recognized.

Secretary Rogers had met my grandfather on a couple of different occasions while serving as United States Attorney General under President Eisenhower, and expressed his condolences to Catherine on his passing.

He commented on Randi’s maturity, surprised that she had selected ‘treaty law’ as her profession at such a young age, and invited her to investigate a career in the Foreign Service.

He asked Anna how her father was doing, saying he hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with him lately, and politely greeted Carl.

Adriana used sign language to say hello, and Mr. Rogers stopped for a moment.

“She can hear you just fine. She has a birth defect that prevents her from speaking. But it has never stopped her from getting her point across!” I explained, teasing Adriana at the same time.

“I’ll get your ‘point’ across, Michael!” she thought, with a laugh.

Mr. Rogers held her hand for a moment, and looked in her eyes.

“I’d say you are correct, young man. This beautiful young lady will never have a problem getting her point across. To anyone,” he told everyone else, his eyes never leaving Adriana.

“You must be Michael,” he said when we shook hands. “You certainly favor your grandfather. So, you’re taking over the reins at Wagner? You seem rather young for such a responsibility,” he said without malice.