<Begin Segment 14>

TI: So I'm going to now jump -- again, you went back to Japan and served there, and there's a lot we could talk about, but we covered a lot of that, or some of that in the last interview. There was something in the last interview, when you retired, that I wanted to talk about. Because you retired, and in there, you slipped in the fact that you had a lunch at the White House for your retirement.

LH: Right.

TI: Now, is this something that's common for a foreign service officer to have...

LH: Oh, far from it. Far from it. I would say that maybe even all ambassadors don't have a lunch at the White House when they retire. 'Cause a lot of the ambassadors, well, sixty percent or more are political appointees anyway. They come and go after a couple of years. But for the foreign service officer who works himself up to ambassadorship, or at the very, very most, Deputy Secretary as Negroponte is, they usually end up, the highest is one of the four or five Under Secretaries of State. That's probably about the highest a foreign service officer would get to. But I had met former President Bush on several occasions. He thought very, very highly of me, and I liked him. I'm a Democrat, but he was a moderate Republican. He's a very intelligent and kind, good human being, and a reasonable man. Anyway, it was through his connection -- he was still Vice President when I retired -- that I had this lunch, a very small lunch, in the White House. And then after that had the retirement ceremony where Schultz presided over. And people like Schultz do not preside over every foreign service officer retiring. Now, I don't want to pat myself on the back. Was I unique? Was I someone that contributed to the extent that I deserved such honors? If I think about it, I don't think particularly so, that I performed to the degree that I deserved, if I was in the military, the Congressional Medal of Honor or that the President would award me with the highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but I guess I had a long enough career, a successful enough career, and developed enough close friends that could facilitate such a retirement.

TI: So although you retired in 1988, I saw a picture of you with President Clinton. And this picture was, this photograph was taken in your house. And so you retired in '88, President Clinton took office...

LH: '91.

TI: '91. What was the connection there? I never --

LH: First of all, you never discuss your relationships with presidents. I mentioned Vice President Bush, I didn't mention when Bush Sr. became president. I didn't mention other presidents that I know except, you know, you've also seen me in pictures with President Ford and (Secretary of State) Kissinger, and (President) Carter, and I don't talk about those either. And especially if you have a close enough relationship where they might visit your home. The reasons why, or exactly when, is best unsaid. You lose your access the moment you open your mouth. I bring you out an example. When John Kennedy Jr. died, even those that were the closest to him, if they talked to the press, Caroline Kennedy shut them out from any future relationship with anybody in the family. And I think I have to leave it at that. I'm sure you understand.

TI: Oh, absolutely. Just your response is very interesting. This is something that I never knew or understood.

LH: Really?

TI: Yeah.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.