The Ugly American (4 page)

In 1949 he returned to Moscow and held a position in the Asia Section of the USSR Foreign Office.

Both he and his wife sailed on the surveying ship
Gorki
which was employed by the Sarkhanese Government to survey and chart the Southeast Asian waters adjacent to Sarkhan.

They then returned to Moscow, where they attended the Moscow School of Southeast Asian Areas. On the class roster Louis Krupitzyn was listed as "Ambassador-designate to Sarkhan." This position was defined as a first-class ambassadorship, not only because Sarkhan was a rich country with over 20,000,000 people, but also because of its strategic position. Beside "Sarkhan" the Soviets had placed the number 30, indicating that they hoped to bring it within the Communist orbit within 30 months.

At the Moscow School for Asian Areas, both Ambassador-designate and Madame Krupitzyn went through two years of rigorous studies to prepare them for their new job. They learned to read and write Sarkhanese. They learned that the ideal man in Sarkhan is slender, graceful, and soft-spoken; that he has physical control and outward tranquility; that he is religious (Buddhism is the prevalent religion); and that he has an appreciation of the ancient classical music.

The Ambassador-designate molded himself into this pattern. He dieted and lost forty pounds; he took ballet lessons. He read Sarkhanese literature and drama, and became a fairly skillful player on the nose flute. And he regularly attended lectures in Buddhist religion and practices.

Ambassador Louis Krupitzyn arrived in Sarkhan exactly one week after the new American Ambassador, Louis Sears, had presented his credentials.

Only a few officials were at the airport to meet Ambassador Krupitzyn; and after greeting them courteously in their own language, he got into his automobile and drove to the Soviet Embassy. The next morning he presented his credentials to the Prime Minister. In the afternoon he traveled to the great monastery on the outskirts of the capital, where he called to pay his respects to the Chief Abbot, who was the leader of all Buddhists in the area. Krupitzyn's arrival caused confusion because it was unusual for white men to come to the monastery. The monks in the outer hall looked at him curiously, some of them smiling and nodding their heads. One of them scurried away to find a superior who would know how to handle this strange situation. Finally a young man in a bright robe—apparently a newcomer to the monastery—came hurrying in, walked to the Russian Ambassador, and asked in English, "May I help you, sir?"

He replied in English. "I have come to pay my respects to His Reverence, the Grand Master," he said, and presented his calling card which was printed on one side in Russian and on the other side in Sarkhanese.

The young monk excused himself and left the room. Returning in about ten minutes, he said, "The Master will see you now. But he speaks no foreign languages, so I will accompany you as interpreter."

After winding their way through long, dim corridors, they entered an enormous room which had nothing in it except a large gold chair at the far end in which an elderly monk was sitting. When they were in front of the monk, Louis Krupitzyn bowed very low and said in classical Sarkhanese, "It is very gracious of Your Reverence to accord me this privilege."

"You did not tell my secretary that you spoke our language."

Krupitzyn, still bowing low, replied, "It is traditional, Your Reverence, that one saves his best words for the master."

Krupitzyn sat cross-legged on the floor and the Grand Leader of all the Buddhists of Sarkhan and Louis Krupitzyn, the Russian Ambassador, began to talk. At first it was chitchat, and then it turned to philosophy. They sat there for the rest of the afternoon until it became dark.

There was some bad fortune that year in Sarkhan. Several typhoons blustered over the land just before the harvesting period, and destroyed most of the crops. Several months later, there was famine in the southern areas. The mobs already had ransacked the granaries of the rich.

At the Russian Embassy they learned from one of their informers who was employed as translator at the American Embassy that the United States was shipping 14,000 tons of rice to the stricken area. Soon after, the Russians learned from another informer—the American Ambassador's chauffeur— that the first of the American grain ships would be arriving in two days.

Krupitzyn acted with initiative and boldness. He bought up several tons of rice at black market prices in the capital, loaded the rice into a truck, and drove 300 miles south to the area where the famine was most intense.

When he arrived at Plutal, the main city of the south, a large crowd was gathered. The Communist newspaper there had come out with a special edition whose headlines announced that Russia, the friend of Sarkhan, would relieve the famine; and that the Russian Ambassador would personally arrive that day with the first token contribution of rice.

And then Krupitzyn himself came.

Speaking over a loudspeaker system and over all available radio stations in the area, Krupitzyn said that Russia was bending every effort to help her friends. The five tons of rice which he had brought along with him were all they could find locally. But be patient, he told them, in excellent Sarkhanese; several Russian grain ships would be arriving in a few days with thousands and thousands of tons of rice which would be distributed free. He then went on to say that Sarkhan and Russia were friends and allies and had to stand by each other because it was obvious that the colonial and capitalistic countries would not assist another nation unless they could profit from it.

The first American grain ship arrived two days later in the harbor of Haidho, the capital of Sarkhan. The USIS was there with cameramen and tape recorders. The Prime Minister was present to accept the relief grain from His Excellency Louis Sears, the American Ambassador to Sarkhan. The sirens blew and there were a few fine speeches. When the speeches were over, the stevedores began unloading the bags of rice, carrying them down the dock, and placing them into the American trucks which were waiting to take the rice to the stricken area.

Halfway down the dock, each stevedore stopped at a weighing station so that his bag of rice could be weighed.

It is customary in Sarkhan for stevedores to be paid by how much they carry, not by the hour. As each bag was removed from the scale, the checker came up to it and stenciled a few words in Sarkhanese on each of the white bags.

When the trucks arrived in Plutal, they were met by a crowd of perhaps 10,000 people. A loudspeaker announced that here was the rice which had been promised them a short time ago by the Russian Ambassador; and here was proof that Russia keeps her word.

There were objections from the crowd. "But these are American trucks and they are driven by American drivers."

"We have hired them from the Americans," answered the Sarkhanese Communists. "Didn't the Russian Ambassador warn you that the capitalists would do anything for profit?"

The crowd was still doubtful. They had heard that the ships which brought the rice were flying the American flag; and the rice had been delivered by American trucks. But when the trucks were unloaded and the rice was handed out, then the populace knew that what the Communist propagandists were announcing over the loudspeakers was true. The Russian Ambassador had carried out his promise.

On each bag of rice there was stenciled in Sarkhanese for every citizen to see and read for himself: "This rice is a gift from Russia."

The Americans took pictures of the distribution of the rice and the smiling faces of the now happy people. There were no comments from any of the Americans present. None of them could read or understand Sarkhanese and they did not know what was happening.

About a week later, the American Embassy found out what had happened. Ambassador Louis Sears made a fiery speech; and from Washington came angry rumblings about instant retaliation. Subsequent American grain ships were properly safeguarded, but the people of Sarkhan continued to believe that Russia was their friend and provider.

About a month after the grain incident Ambassador Louis Krupitzyn made his first report to Moscow. He wrote a long letter telling Moscow that the Communist activities and programs were progressing ahead of schedule in Sarkhan. The report went into details of every activity of the Communists' coordinated effort, discussing the cultural, economic, political, religious, and military aspects of Russia's struggle to acquire power in Sarkhan.

Near the end of his report were two short but interesting comments.

"The American Ambassador is a jewel. He keeps his people tied up with meetings, social events, and greeting and briefing the scores of senators, congressmen, generals, admirals, undersecretaries of State and Defense, and so on, who come pouring through here to 'look for themselves.' He forbids his people to 'go into the hills,' and still annoys the people of Sarkhan with his bad manners.

"I note with concern, however, that the American press has been very critical of Ambassador Sears for his inability to counter the tricks we played on him with the grain ships. If these American press attacks continue, it is possible that in time he will be removed. It is to our advantage to have him remain here. Therefore, during the next week or two I will see to it that editorials in the local newspapers will praise him for being an understanding American and a brave fighter. I also suggest that Pravda attack him bitterly. This combination will be all that is necessary to convince the U. S. State Department and the U. S. public that Ambassador Sears is doing a superb job.

"There is another matter which I view with great concern. An agent's report from Burma describes the activities of an American Catholic priest who works in one of the provinces there. His name is Father Finian. If the report is accurate, this man is an agitator of the most extreme skill, and combines with this the typical Jesuitical command of dialectics. The priest is rumored to speak Burmese, eats native food, and is obviously engaged in some sort of Papist plot. I need not remind you of Lenin's warnings about the skill of the Papacy when its interests are threatened. I should appreciate receiving whatever
dossier
material you might have on this man."

Nine Friends

Father
John
x.
Finian
, sj—Born 1910 in Worcester, Mass. Parents, John X. and Marie Finian. Three sisters, three brothers. Graduated A. B., Boston University, 1934. M. A. Catholic College, Rome, 1941. Professor of Apologetics, St. Mary's, 1943-44. Chaplain, United States Navy, 1944-47. D. Phil. Oxford University, 1947-50. Thesis:
The Social Doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas
. Special Assistant to the Archbishop of Boston, 1950-51.

Publications Articles: "The Agony of St. Therese: An Essay on the Modernity of Humility"; "The Visions of St. Bernard: The Insights of Modem Psychology"; "The New Deal and Catholic Social Theory"; "Some Thoughts on the Strengths of Godless Communism"; "Is Communism Godless?"; "The Rising Threat of Communism."

Books:
The Medieval Religious Visions: A Social Interpretation; The Challenge of Communism
(1951).

In 1952 Father Finian was ordered to Burma with the positions of Overseer of Catholic Missions and Advocate for the General of the Society of Jesus.

As
Father Finian read the document which ordered him from comfortable New England ten thousand miles to Burma, he smiled with satisfaction.

Father Finian was a big man—six foot three inches; perhaps from hunching forward to listen to smaller men, he had developed a stoop. His hands were big; and although they were now smooth, they still looked strong. When he was a boy he had delivered ice, hauled crates at the Railroad Express, picked over tons of coal looking for the grey gleam of slate; when he was at Oxford he had rowed on the Merton crew and was recognized as the best stroke they had ever had.

A man knowing the frailness of all men, Father Finian welcomed the assignment to Burma. Although he enjoyed the scholarship of religion, and knew, calmly and without arrogance, that he was considered a promising intellectual among members of the Society of Jesus, the priest felt that a special task awaited him in Asia. With an intensity that was almost physical, he wanted to grapple with it.

He knew of the terrible trouble there, the political plague which infected people who were susceptible because of hunger, poverty, or political disunity. The memory of his : own experience with this political plague was bright in his mind, each detail perfect and precise.

It had happened during the war when he was a Navy chaplain. He had been talking to combat-seasoned Marines who were gathered on a small hill in the Russell Islands. Below them, framed in the coconut palms and the white crescent of sand, were the blue-grey hulks of the LCI's which would take them into battle on New Georgia that night.

One young Marine had listened to the priest with unusual interest. He stood quietly with his lips barely parted and his head turned so as to catch every word. Finian became more enthusiastic than usual. He talked volubly of dedication to God, of the need for humility, and of the assurance of everlasting life if one but had faith.

When he had finished, filled with more emotion than he usually allowed himself, he walked quickly around the group to the attentive Marine. "May God go with you on this invasion."