Ugly American Authored by William J Lederer and Eugene Burdick - Essay Example

THE UGLY AMERICANS STUDENT NAME PROFESSOR’S NAME COURSE TITLE DATE Introduction The ‘Ugly American’ authored by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick published in 1958 elicited public reaction and even captured the attention of the President of the United States John F. Kennedy. It brings out the issues of American Policy in the American invasion of Vietnam and portrays them in a negative limelight especially the state officials. The novel set in the 1950s during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the US, it focuses on a small fictional Asian Country known as ‘Sarkhan’. The book focuses on the wrangles and battle between the Foreign Service personnel of the US and Russian Communists through political, social events and even in military prowess. This paper focuses on Ambassador Gilbert MacWhite’s responsibility for his failure in his mission to Sarkhan examining what led to his failure. It focuses on the attempts made by other US Citizens in accomplishing Sarkhan mission in his tenure as well as the reasons for his failure. Ambassador Gilbert McWhite Ambassador Gilbert MacWhite (hereinafter referred to as the Ambassador) plays the fictional role in the Ugly American being the American Ambassador to Sarkhan. The ambassador is a Princeton alumnus, well educated and an exceptional expert on the Soviet Theory and practice. The Ambassador described as being a very competent man, highly efficient, fit and exact (p. 93). The ambassador prior to taking the Sarkhan mission, he decides to enroll into a Sarkhanese language class for approximately fifteen weeks , on his own he decides to read all the books he could find to familiarize himself with the History of the Sarkhanese and their political life. He even engages with sociologists, anthropologist, political scientists, diplomats and the businesspersons already working in Sarkhanese for several years (p. 94). This strategy aims at countering the communist influence in the country, because the Russians were gaining popularity due to their policies that strategized on winning the trust of the people. The Ambassador unlike many of the other officials takes his task seriously and waiting eagerly for his posting. When he meets his friend Li Pang, he opens up his mind to going out there and gets “a feel for the thing” according to Magsaysay (p. 109). This is because despite learning the language and reading about his assignment, it was insufficient to win over the Communists to enable Sarkhan a more stable government. The Ambassador already knew that convincing natives of foreign government interest is not such an easy thing. This is because the native people of Sarkhan had suspicions in relation to the motives and purpose of the US together with resentment especially because of foreign intrusion into their own country. The training of the Ambassador served to make the locals feel at ease with foreigners, make it easy to impart ideas and give them a reassuring feel about what the US felt for the natives. In one of his greatest undertakings in warfare, resonates from his experience with Major Monet a Frenchman and Major James Wolcheck of the US Army. Wolcheck states that the communist win because of their new warfare tactics, and when the ambassador acquires a pamphlet from a Chinese Leader explains his concept of Guerilla warfare Monet uses it to win Communist skirmishes Louis Sears the Ambassador’s Predecessor In the book Ugly American, it is not worth mentioning the Ambassador’s predecessor Ambassador’s Louis Sears. This is because the two shows clear contrast between two Ambassadors with different opinions about how well to undertake a mission or an assignment. In the book it states “There are two types of men which whom can bargain with profit: the wise man who can see one’s problem clearly and is without vanity or pride; or with the stupid man” (p.30). When Louis Sears enters into the picture in Sarkhan, the native already have perception of Americans as being ignorant, self-centered and egocentric. Louis Sears in Sarkhan portray this character of being self-serving and unconcerned with the locals interest and the Pilipino Minister of Defense categorizes the Americas into those unaffected by opportunities and parties and second raters who crave to live up to the luxuries of foreign policy (p. 108). The ambassador compared to Louis Sears had the potential of becoming more successful because he was trained self-sacrificing, dedicated to the success of the people of Sarkhan and his ambitions was not for personal gain. These characteristics of being open with ideas and skills and willing to make personal sacrifices for the benefit of others sought to portray him as an idealistic ambassador. According to U Muang, he describes leaders as one who is “top-notch, with the ability to make their subordinates fit in with the culture, habits, and needs” (p.152) someone capable of leading a State to high levels of success and great achievement. Louis Sears for instance known for being hostile after a cartoon of his is published in a local newspaper that makes him furious, had not taken the assignment as serious as Ambassador MacWhite or his communist counterpart Lousi Krupitzyn. Krupitzyn just like the Ambassador had studies Sarkhanese, and understood the culture of the people and even managed to outsmart Louis Sears by labeling American rice as gift from Russians. Louis Sears failed to identify with the people of Sarkhan and always dependent on his judgment to determine the kind of policy to put in place in Sarkhan. Compared to the Ambassador, Louis Sears makes a blunder over the rumor that the US will evict Sarkhanese Air Force from land lent to them. Whereas the ambassador makes mistake and learns from them and his appointment is quite promising, Louis Sears was incompetent and cared less about the welfare of the natives. Failure The Ambassodor started in his assignment with zeal and eagerness to successfully enable Sarkhan attain a stable government. The man though having virtues in the admission of his mistakes and willing to learn from the mistakes he expended effort to tour other Asian States to observe the situations in the countries. In the end, the efforts of the Ambassador went to waste since he failed to convince the US government to change their policy on giving foreign aid. He is likened to someone who has zeal and passion but lets it die down just before attaining his ultimate goal. In his undertakings as an Ambassador, MacWhite faced criticism from the Secretary of State when he tables his opinions on the situation in Southeast Asia culminating to him resigning and being replaced by Joe Bing. This is because the US secretary of State disregards his opinion of winning the Russian cold war through making Americans to act in the interest of the countries whose interest they needed and not those of propaganda. He fails to convince his own people the Americans the way he tried to win over the Sarkhans. In one of the conversations between Magsaysay the Minister of Defense and the Ambassador the Minister for Defence says “average Americans in their natural state are the best ambassador’s one can have but something happens to Americans when abroad and they feel they need to live up to the commissaries, big cars and cocktail parties’. In essence, it brings out a point by authors that Americans have a potential of being great ambassadors hence undermining their competence. For instance U Maung Swe says that “Poor America. It took the British a hundred years to lose their prestige in Asia. America has managed to lose hers in ten years.” (p.122). Despite the Ambassador trying to change the policy on Americans living abroad, he failed to maintain the zeal of being a great ambassador. McWhite had invested in his strategy to capture the attention of Sarkhan but it went to waste because despite his humility, there had always been a rigid ego that permitted him to place a fatal amount of faith in his own unsupported judgment (p. 117). The most significant failure of the ambassador relates to his poor judgment and placing trust on his Chinese servants Donald and Rodger in relation to his fight against Communist influence. In order to tackle his failure, he makes trips to Vietnam and Philippines where he gets to hear about Colonel Hillandle who embraces the local culture through playing jazz and harmonica. Placing trust on servants who had their own selfish interest made him lose his grip in the fight against communist influence. Conclusion The Ugly American highlights the plights, place, characters and ideology that inform American ambassador’s ideology while working in foreign states during their mission. Ambassador MacWhite is a perfect example of American officials who take their work seriously and seek to achieve a positive impact on the communities or states in which they work. Ambassador MacWhite shows a sharp contrast to Louis Sears who is interested in his own personal gain and fails to create a rapport with the people. Any leader has his failures, and Ambassador MacWhite fails for trusting in the wrong people and because of his inner egocentric self not manifested in his character of humility. REFERENCES William, J. L. & Eugene, B. (1958). The Ugly American. Norton Read More