NEW TITLE, OLD JOB

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 7

NEW TITLE, OLD JOB

When the United States Senate confirmed President Richard Nixon’s appointment of Eileen Roberta Donovan as United States Ambassador to Barbados, the title was new to her but the job was not. From 1960 to 1965 she served' there, first as principal officer, then for three years as consul-general in Barbados for that island and eight other English-speaking islands in the area. The post has since been elevated to’ ambassadorial rank and Miss Donovan’s accreditation alsg provides for service as United States special representative to five other Caribbean Islands of. semi-independent status that form the West Indies Associated States. “If I had been given my choice of any post in the world, I would have chosen this one,” says Miss Donovan, whose distinguished 21-year career as a foreign service officer.has earned her high praise as a diplomat. “In addition to the sea and sand and the loveliest beaches in the world, I like the Caribbean area for its marvellous experience in constitutional development."

Barbados has a history of over 300 years of representative democracy, and its legislative assembly, which was established in 1639, is the third oldest in the Western Hemisphere. INDEPENDENCE “I’ve watched the island advance from a ' British

f Colony to independence (in . 1966),” Miss Donovan says. > “I know, as well as like and i admire the people and their : hospitality.” ■ During her tenure as con-sul-general at Barbados, hers was one of only two United States posts in the world that I received the highest possible i ratings in both management

i and political work. She was . unusually successful in deI veloping harmonious relation- : ships with the new Negro leaders of the islands during ■ that period of intense ! political activity. 1 Born in Boston, Massa- : chusetts, Eileen Donovan : earned her bachelor’s and ; master’s degrees from

Teachers College there in 1936 and 1937. In 1957, after a year of advanced studies, she received another master's degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Public Administration, now known as the John F. Kennedy School of Government Although she was always interested in foreign affairs, Miss Donovan recalls that her family was not enthusiastic about her choice of such a career. “I was an only daughter and my father, chief of the fire department in Boston, thought teaching there was what I should do.” So for four years she taught history, always her favourite subject, in a Boston secondary school. In 1943, during World War 11, she joined the United States Woman’s Army Corps as captain and three years later was assigned to the Tokyo headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur on a post-war programme of education for Japanese women.

CHANGE DECIDED While on leave from that post, she says, “I decided to take a foreign service examination instead of going back to teaching in Boston when my Tokyo assignment was finished.” She passed it and returned to Tokyo as a diplomat assigned to the political adviser’s office in the United States diplomatic mission there. For her work in Japan, Miss Donovan received a. Special Commendation from the W.A.C. and the Army Commendation Medal with a citation from General MacArthur. After leaving Japan, her overseas assignments included important posts in Manila and Milan. Warm-hearted and outgoing, with an intense interest in all that her job involved, Miss Donovan has never been a desk-bound diplomat. Wherever she was stationed, she made a practice of travelling about to learn “how the grassroots people felt about things.” On home duty in Washington she has served as public affairs officer, Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs, and as chief of the southern European branch, Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Since 1965 she has been assistant chief of the State Department’s Office of Caribbean Affairs. AWARD In 1969 she was a winner of the Federal Woman’s Award, the only honours programme designed specially to recognise outstanding contributions of women to the United States' Government.

She was cited, in part, for her “notable influence in the political and policy formulations areas of foreign affairs and the good will she has engendered among the people of other nations.”

In her spare time, Miss Donovan enjoys swimming or a game of golf. "The woman ambassador who knows her job is no different from a competent man in the same post,” she says.

However, experience has shown her one disadvantage shared by single ambassadors, either men or women. “They don’t have two people to do the work,” she says. "While the ambassador may have thoughts of important negotiations in her head during the day, then comes four o’clock and she begins to wonder if anyone has polished the silver or cut the flowers for the evening entertaining which is such an integral part of the job.”— United States Information Service.