I’ll be honest. As a travel writer I have an agenda. I want to help Americans better understand our world by communicating with it through travel. So I’ve got to share something that’s been troubling me lately. All over Europe I hear how the US ambassadors to various countries are buffoons when it comes to understanding the intricacies of the countries in which they serve. When being interviewed on TV, it’s American ambassadors who require a translator to speak for them. Of course, Democratic and Republican presidents alike give posts as favors to big supporters. But President Bush seems to take the cake in choosing ill-suited ambassadors. To non-Americans, this symbolizes our country’s current contempt for the notion of talking with the rest of the world.
Here in Berlin, Clinton’s ambassador, John Kornblum, is well remembered. He spoke German, went to festivals, and enjoyed mixing with the locals. Now retired in Berlin, Kornblum is still active in the community and a household name among Berliners. He invited average Americans living in Berlin to famously fun Fourth of July parties each summer. These expats no longer hear from the current ambassador.
President Bush’s first ambassador, Dan Coats, famously said that he had no idea why he was in Germany, since he had no experience, spoke no German, and had roughly no concept of what made the country tick. Locals tell me America’s current ambassador, William Timken, speaks no German, and his favorite Berlin restaurant is Tony Roma’s. Timken caused a buzz when he had guests at his Fourth of July party repeat the Pledge of Allegiance.
All stand: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
With their ugly recent history, Berliners aren’t big into pledges of allegiance. Their current oath is relatively mild: “I give my vow that I will serve the Federal Republic of Germany truly, and will bravely defend the laws and freedoms of the German people.”
Berliners who were children in the 1930s recall the Hitler Youth Pledge of Allegiance: “We carry the flag forward into the battle of the youth. It stands and is raised and blazes to the heavens like fire in the sky. We are sworn to be true to the flag for all eternity. Whosoever shall desecrate the flag will be cursed for all eternity. The flag is our belief in God, People, and Country. Whoever seeks to destroy it must first take our lives and prosperity. We care for the flag as a mother cares for her child. The flag is our future, our honor, and the source of our courage.”
Their fathers, most certainly in the military (and very likely killed defending this pledge), held out their arms and said: “I swear to God, this holy oath that I will devote my absolute obedience to the Leader of the German Empire and people, the supreme commander of the German Wehrmacht, Adolf Hitler, and I, as a courageous soldier, am prepared to lay down my life to fulfill this oath.”
Today, Germans fly their flag rarely outside of soccer games, and are most comfortable pledging their allegiance to a good frothy beer.
In the last few days, seeing 1945 photos of cold and hungry locals wandering through piles of bricks that were once grand cities, I’ve wondered what would cause a people to fight literally to the bitter end. Perhaps a good strong holy oath of allegiance.
We visited Berlin in 1970, this story is shortened: — We were so queasy and flustered about what we did and how we did it while we were doing it, it was a couple of years later when we reviewed this in detail, that we realized that four very friendly, neighborly actions on the part of East Germans, had occurred. At Checkpoint “Able†we filled out the wrong form, the lady in uniform politely said “… you filled them out beautifully.†I helped a lady who had an overheated car. The officer in charge liked that so he waved us on, before our “aggravation time†had expired. At Checkpoint “Baker†The guard held up three fingers, and asked, “Drei frauen?†(Three women?) I answered “Yes.†He rolled his eyes skyward, as if to say, “You poor fellow.†Young guards, held their guns in one hand, and threw kisses to the Lindas with the other. Boys will be boys, as long as teen-age girls continue to look like teen-age girls. Berlin Wall, Fragments .
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Rick: It is beyond me why political appointee ambassadors are appointed at all. The State Department has a fine Foreign Service full of smart, energetic people who actually can speak the languages of the countries they are assigned to and are knowledgeable about the history and culture as well. I know. My daughter is one of them and speaks eight (8) languages, including German. Maybe someday the plush posts — Berlin, London, etc. will be given to true servants of our nation and not to folks who happened to help out monetarily in the last campaign.
Don’t mean to be a pest—Rick is going to the Czech Republic, here’s my favorite Ambassador. One visit to Prague, we asked to see (but she was busy) the United States Ambassador, Madam Shirley Temple Black (yes that Shirley Temple). Appointed by President Bush in 1989, she served until 1993. She was in Prague to help set up a chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and saw people being killed during “The Prague Spring,†when the Soviets invaded this city in 1968. She was in Prague as Ambassador when the Czechs celebrated the “Velvet Revolution,†the collapse of Communism in 1989. This 61-year-old American grandmother, dressed in a jumpsuit and yellow Reeboks, had watched the antigovernment rally in Wenceslas Square, while perched on a dirty window ledge. In January 1993, as a result of the “Velvet Divorce†Czechoslovakia was replaced by two independent states: Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Her Bio says, “I speak some French, a little Arabic, and Czech. Czech is a hard language
I remember when watching the World Cup last year they would do little side/gen. interest stories, just like in the Olympics to fill time. The two I remember most were the one about the horrific level of racism in European sport. The second being how hosting the World Cup gave Germans a sense of national pride again, and they felt more comfortable sporting the national colors. Something they did not feel comfortable doing since WII. I think during this time of watered down intellectual thought when it is considered “smart” or “progressive” to say Hitler = Bush, we lose site how much having someone like Hitler in your nations recent past must weigh on you. I for one hope the Germans fly their flags a little more and feel proud of what they have accomplished in the past 60 yrs. As long as you don’t ignore the bad there is nothing wrong with taking pride in the positive.
Well, Germany may have a U.S. ambassador “in training”, but they have good chocolate and cuckoo clocks. There are good things there! :)
I love your travel blog and check it everyday. As a travel writer and traveler, you are an American ambassador of goodwill from a different persepctive. You have often commented you don’t speak any foreign languages. Perhaps it is not whether one speaks the language but how one performs in his or her public and private life which should be (imho) one of the same.
Very well said Audrey
There you go again Rick thinking that the current U.S. government has global perspective of what it might take to foster peace and understanding in the world. You are such an idealist. Do you really expect this administration to choose an ambassador based on anything but politics? It concerns me less that the Ambassador needs a translator than it does that he didn’t understand how a pledge might make a ANYONE feel not only a German. I only have a high school education and even I get that! Those of us with common sense have to keep traveling, communicating, if only with our limited language skills and good intentions, to demonstrate an alternative perspective of American beliefs. Person to person seems all we have currently. Impeach!
I thought this was a travel blog not a Bush bashing platform. I could go to thousands of other blogs to read Teresa’s style of prose. Can we please just stick to informing and educating on all the the wonderful places Rick visits. I have a passion for travelling sans politics.
Certainly it is incidents such as the posting of an out of place ambassador by the current administration that cause us to long for the days of President Clinton when things of this type never happened.
His foreign policy was learning to keep his pants in diplomatic order. Heehee! Happy travels, Rick! The U.S. Embassy in Berlin will get it going on once again…in time.
Re the above comment “I have a passion for traveling sans politics”, I too tire of the political aspect of traveling. However, without geography, there would be no traveling. Geography is the center of universe . . . without it we would not know life as it is. Perhaps we would not have life. Geography/travel/travel writing concerns all aspects of geography — human, cultural (which includes religion or the lack of it), physical (all those marvelous wonders we want to see, the crops we grow, forests, deserts), manmade wonders (how did they build those things without the topography, culture, materials), historical (migration of people due to all the afore mentioned), geopolitics (see above), and the list & life go on and on. One can’t separate politics from geography or life. How a person or a country deals with politics has a direct bearing if one is going to teach, write and travel.
Famed Greek Historian and travel writer Herodotus and of course Marco Polo, among others who not only wrote about what they saw, but were compelled to make cultural, social, and yes political commentary and interpretation about their travels not only for the titillation factor to their audiences but to create a window into how others perceived them as nation states and vice versa. Thus, isn’t that what cultural exchange is all about, a dynamic exchange of ideas and people. To think that being an American while traveling will somehow inoculate you from the pesky annoyances of political and cultural upheaval and disapproval from the country one is visiting is actually quite arrogant. Political leaders and its ambassadors represent the culture and people of America which directly impacts Americans at home & abroad. Thinking one can ignore the political implications of a few fails to understand that some of us will come off looking like the culturally callous,oblivious ugly American.
I agrees that understanding a nations culture and having at least a rudimentary understanding of the language is important. The most important thing however, is that the ambassador, above all else, considers the United States interests first. Every American traveling abroad should be there own ambassador. That means that every person should represent America in a positive light. Display a good attitude and a willingness to experience and enjoy the local culture. When politics does come show pride in being an American and in a courteous way explain that what is best for the nation you are visiting is not always in the best interests of the United States.
We are not Pollyannish about our travels, but there is really no place where we have visited in 70 countries and Islands that we would not be happy to revisit tomorrow. Of course some are more interesting than others, but when we travel we know it is their home, if we don’t like it we can leave. We are there to learn about their home and way of life, and we try not to tell everyone that our home and our culture is best, even though we are positive that it is.
Nicely said Jim.
To Bill Monteith: If you think that this is not a Bush-bashing forum, you haven’t been keeping up with the posts. Whether it SHOULD be a Bush-bashing forum is another question. To Chris Kern: If you are so naive as to believe that the Clinton administration NEVER posted an “out of place” ambassador, you have totally lost control of reality.
just thinking out loud here but hasn’t Rick mentioned rather sheepishly that despite running for the past 25 years an euro –centric business he only speaks English?
Dear Joe, I thought you were on vacation seeing the world! :)
My writing skills are, I’m ashamed to say, poor. So very often someone else will have written something that reflects my opinion far better than I could. AUDREY is one such person. Her post yesterday was…is “right on”. BTW, I don’t speak a foreign language, English does it for me, but I make an effort not to be an “ugly American” when I have the privilege to travel.
Hey Bonnie- That was a different Joe, and I’m not on vacation seeing the world, except by following Rick through Europe. Unlike this other Joe, I know that while Rick is fluent only in English, he knows enough useful phrases in most Euro languages to get by while traveling. We’ve used the same tactic very successfully during our time abroad. However, I am concerned that Rick appears to be comparing our own Pledge of Allegiance to the Hitler Youth Pledge, and to the Wehrmacht Pledge of Allegiance to Der Fuhrer. I am sure that this is a mistake, but I would hate to see people like Ben put Rick on trial for treason for what had to have been an unfortunate error. You don’t really think these pledges are comparable, do you Rick? Rick?
Grumps don’t travel well do they.
Why does a person like Ben even bother to read this Blog, anyway? Rick´s Blog, books and programs are for people who look for understanding through TRAVEL, seeing other cultures, History, etc. That makes us better human beings. Ben should´t be allowed to have a Passport, but surely he doesn´t care to have one anyway.
Hey everybody–don’t lose sleep over Ben’s comments. He’s a phony, and is only saying what he says to hit a nerve in the most gullible of us (and laugh over the knee-jerk reactions), and to see his name in print. He’ll never see it any other way, only through the anonymity of posting on Rick’s blog. Don’t take anything he says seriously. It’s the same as the ranting of a spoiled three year old child. For the rest of us, let’s talk about travel and the personal dialogue required of us as we travel beyond our hometowns. I agree with many who have commented here–the dialogue is what makes travel both interesting and valuable in the grand scheme of things.
It is precisely because Rick goes beyond cathedrals, castles, hotels, and restaurants and voices personal opinions on events, customs, and politics that many readers continue to be interested in his blogs. Those who find fault because Rick does not mirror their own narrow thinking and pathetic reasoning (“hating the troops and condones terrorism” is a sad example) have plenty of other places to go for support. The Internet has hundreds of sites filled with uninformed ranting that should appeal to them. The comments on Rick’s blogs should be helpful to people who want to learn more about the world outside the USA instead of being misused as an ego platform by those trying to obtain their “fifteen minutes of fame”.
Well said Karl
Rick, I appreciate you speaking your mind, even if it offends cetain people. While not everyone is going to see your perspective eye to eye, you just might open some minds and help them see beyond their lifetime conditioning with your words. I encourage you to continue speaking freely, and thank you!
I was travelling last month to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic when I sat next to a lovely brother and sister that had just finished visiting their uncle – who was the US Ambassador to Poland. In the midst of the lovely conversation with them, they responded to my query of how he received his position my saying sheepishly that he had no experience for the position, but was a friend of W’s from his days at Yale and that they were told that is how ambassador’s were generally implemented in this administration. Some of the comments in this thread cause me to shudder.
It’s a good thing that, in World War II, Americans who, no doubt, pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States and defended it were there to defeat Hitler and free the German people from Hitler’s heinous rule. It’s also good that another American, who, no doubt also pledged allegiance to the flag, named Ronald Reagan led the way to “tear down that wall.” Whether any of them spoke German is irrelevant; they spoke with their actions of bravery for the good of the German people. And, by the way, my father was one of those soldiers in World War II who helped free the German people.
I love Rick Steves and his advice he shares about European travel, as well as his view that we should do our best to “blend in” with the locals over there. That being said, everyone should realize that Rick has some very, very, very FAR left views regarding the American flag and now, the Pledge. A few years ago, Rick got a lot of attention for helping to TAKE DOWN a set of American flags which were put up in his hometown in response to 9/11 and the War on Terror. Unbelievable? Yes. But Rick did it.
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