Journeying Far and Wide: A Political and Diplomatic Memoir

Kaiser served in various government posts including assistant secretary of Labor under Truman, ambassador to Senegal under Kennedy, and ambassador to Hungary and Austria under Carter. Elegantly written and anecdotal, his memoir is enjoyable. Especially noteworthy: his account of his role in returning to the Hungarian people the Crown of St. Stephen, the treasured thousand-year symbol of their national identity, which had been stored at Fort Knox since the end of the war; and his close relationship with Chancellor Bruno Kreisky at a time when Austria was just beginning to confront the realities of its wartime relationship with the Nazis. Kaiser is eloquent in his denunciation of the American government's failure to provide the State Department with the resources to perform its role as the first line of national defense (he points out that State has the smallest budget of any Cabinet department, less than 1% of the Defense Department's). A profound admirer of Woodrow Wilson, he argues that what the country needs most right now is a fresh application of the progressive legacy initiated by the president, and a willingness to manage government imaginatively and creatively. (Jan.)