Merle Cochran gave Kenneth a dinner in which the meat, which was pork chops, was so tough that he could not cut it. Cochran sat there and laughed as Kenneth toiled away on the pork chops. The only way he could get anything off a pork chop was to pick…
Kenneth had been ignoring Dean Rusk's attempts to meet with him, but Rusk eventually decided to just appoint Kenneth to the Foreign Service Institute. Kenneth was already making a larger salary than the Director, whom he was to be Special Assistant…
Kenneth gives a detailed description of days during the Country Team Seminar. He discusses ways of improving the course, including time he spent with experts making sure he had the materials necessary for those in the course to study. He also details…
Kenneth had a regular ritual at State when coffee break time came. He had learned early on that the most important people to him were the messengers and the secretaries. They were helpful to him in many ways. Every day, Kenneth made a point of having…
Kenneth tells the story of the Landons' bulldog, Candy, that Kenneth bought when he was going to Earlham College to make an impression on campus. The dog was very emotional and had an unsual way of greeting visitors, making a mess that Margaret had…
While Kenneth was in Djakarta he became lonesome, so he called home and heard the phone ring, and then Margaret picked up and said hello. He said hello, and she said, "Kenneth! Where are you?" He said, "Djakarta." And she said, "Oh, where in Kansas…
The 1945 flight from New York landed in Ireland, then in London, where Kenneth visited the bookstores. He then flew on to Paris. Margaret had just "gotten in the chips" because of Anna, and had some money to spend. They had agreed that he would buy…
Kenneth speaks of the Office of War Information that Donovan also set up and for which he made Thai language broadcasts. The original idea for the broadcasts came from the Thai Legation, as early as October, 1941, before the war began. Immediately…
Kenneth recalls going up to stay at a British hill station after his operation for appendicitis and listening to British gentlemen there discussing what they would do when the Japanese attacked, and of how easily a small group of them could link…
Kenneth tells of the time he was to brief McGeorge Bundy and Walt Rostow on Laos, as he was just returning from there. This briefing was right after John F. Kennedy was elected president. He found that McGeorge Bundy was quite the knowledgeable man,…
Bill was a natural golfer. He could have been a professional golfer if he had wanted to. He had good timing, coordination, grace. Bill wanted to run the mile, so he went out for the track team at school. Later on, when he was living in Seattle, he…
Bill Godel had gotten into some trouble. They talked with Kenneth about testifying on his character. Kenneth exclaimed that he figured Godel innocent, as he wouldn't piddle around with anything less than $10,000--more than that, though, he might have…
Kenneth tells of the time when he was to be the political adviser to Admiral Edwin Layton. The Admiral was taking a tour around the Pacific countries and was particularly interested in Japan. Kenneth was asked what he would be drinking on the trip,…
Kenneth tells of how he was poisoned at a dinner in Bangkok. There was a dinner at the Legation during which Kenneth became violently ill, supposedly from food poisoning with arsenic. There were Thai in Bangkok who were very suspicious of Kenneth,…
Bao Dai sent an official driver to pick Kenneth up in a big limousine. They went up into the mountain area where Bao Dai was staying, with the road along the edge of a cliff, and it was breathtaking. There were no guard rails or anything! The driver…
Kenneth tells of his trip through Afghanistan and an incident in which nomads were required to wash the car as they'd made it dirty. Kenneth also recalls buying a lamb-skin hat there, made from the skin of an unborn baby lamb. He bought one for Peggy…
Kenneth, after being removed from his job leading insurgency seminars, was able to travel some. He had received the position of Dean of Area Studies, and wanted to set up the program correctly. He studied the area studies programs at some of the…
In 1945, when Kenneth arrived in Bangkok, he had only been there a few days when Pridi gave him an official dinner. At the dinner, Pridi said he had read Kenneth's book and commented that it was a very fair book. He wanted to know how Kenneth got…
Kenneth represented the State Department at the ceremonies. They were very formal, white tie, tails, and top hat. Every morning, during the ceremonies—which went on for several days, first the cremation, then the wedding, which Kenneth didn't attend,…
Kenneth tells of becoming a member of the Congressional Golf Club. He had been trying for quite some time, and finally, through Larry, the husband of his piano teacher, was able to get on as a member. The price was drastically cheaper back then,…
Around the time he turned fifty, Kenneth started making a list of all the things he wanted to do in his life. On this list, he had that he wanted to write short stories. he finally got his chance and got them published in the Saturday Evening Post in…
Kenneth tells of his start in bread making. He tells of his rye recipe, which given by Betty Bond. His first batch of bread was resulted from his inquiring to Margaret on how to make it--alarmed, she merely handed him the cook book. Kenneth later…
Kenneth talks about the head of the Far East section of the State Department, a man nicknamed "Baldy" Ballantyne, who would stutter when he didn't know what to say and would keep stuttering until he found the word he wanted. Ballantyne gave Kenneth…
Kenneth walked across the street and into the old high commissioner's palace, which was just a few hundred yards from the hotel. He asked to see Ho Chi Minh, and the staff people asked him who he was, which he told them. No one asked him to prove it.…