ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...

understand, he still lives somewhere in the Czech Republic but keeps a low profile. The
whole episode was remarkable because it was my first experience with how deceptive
people can be in the world of espionage. But of course, I still had no idea that I would
join the diplomatic service and routinely deal with intelligence issues through my career.
Q: When did the Foreign Service come up for you?
PERINA: Well, the Foreign Service came up when we moved back to New York from
Munich, and I was writing my dissertation and started sending out applications for
teaching jobs. Lo and behold, there were very few academic jobs around. Some of my
classmates said they sent out hundreds of applications with barely a response. I was still
writing the dissertation and saw little prospect of a teaching job even after I was finished.
We had some income, my wife worked at Columbia University Press, and I had a
teaching fellowship but a very small income. Then my wife became pregnant, and I
started making plans to work as a cab driver in New York, like some of my classmates
were already doing. Somewhere on a bulletin board at Columbia I saw an ad to take the
Foreign Service exam and decided to try it. As I mentioned, the prominence at the time of
Henry Kissinger had started me thinking that perhaps a diplomatic career was not out of
the question, even for a foreign-born, first generation immigrant, but I had not given it
serious thought. Well I signed up for the exam, and I was as amazed as anyone when I
learned that I had passed. I don't think I passed it at a very high level. I think I frankly I
just made it but then I aced the oral interview.
Q: Do you recall any of the questions?
PERINA: Yes, I do recall the questions. But at that time the oral exam was very different
from what it is now. It was basically a conversation with a panel of about five people. I
walked into the room and chatted for about an hour. It was very civilized. To prepare for
it, I bought this little U.S. Government publication that was a great summary of U.S.
foreign policy positions. It was one of these periodic reports that the Executive Branch
has to prepare for Congress on policy issues. It was the perfect thing to read, and I
studied it carefully. As a consequence I knew about things like the Shanghai
Communiqué, which was completely out of my specialization in academia. I was in fact
asked about our China policy and referred to the Shanghai Communiqué agreement that
there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of China. I think the panel was impressed
that as a European specialist I had heard of the Shanghai Communiqué.
But then they asked me questions about the Watergate hearings which were then
underway. They asked me what I thought of them and how I hoped they would turn out. I
sensed right away they wanted to see if I was going to be partisan, if I was going to say,
“Well, Nixon should be hanged” or “Poor Nixon, he's being persecuted.” So I answered
by saying I hoped that it would all end in a way that didn’t divide the country even more
than Vietnam ever did. It was clearly the right answer, the right diplomatic answer for
better or for worse. I didn’t tip my hand. I guess it was the thing that they wanted to hear
and then they asked, “Well, what happens if the President gets impeached?” And I said,
“Well, then there's an impeachment trial by Congress” and then they said, “What appeal
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