Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

Chapter 3. Mid-Career Impact (1961-1973)
Lister’s Italian experience deeply impressed upon him the importance of
persuading those on the fringes of the political left to join the democratic process. In
addition to developing his foreign policy beliefs, his Italian experience also developed
in him definite ideas about the State Department bureaucracy and his own role in it.
Lister believed he had been effective in Italy due to the flexibility he had been
given—or assumed for himself—to develop relationships with the Italian Socialists. 1
And, he doubtlessly resented that the State Department bureaucracy had penalized
him, even though he had pursued a policy that was favored by some top level foreign
policy officials.
Although Lister wanted more freedom of action in his job, he would spend the
rest of his career based at the State Department, never again being selected for an
overseas mission. Over the next twelve years, Lister would achieve some successes,
though not the level of success that he enjoyed in Italy or beginning in the mid-1970s.
His career prospects as of 1962 were not promising, even as he continued to work
closely with Schlesinger at the White House. For a time, he was assigned to
facilitating the visits of Soviet delegations to the United States. He wrote to Harriman
that the job had some “pleasant aspects” but that it was not what he wanted to be
doing. 2
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