Our "Private" Conversation

In early 1958, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Nathan Twining, invited all of the NATO chiefs of staff to H-Bomb tests in the Mariana Islands of the Pacific.

Shortly after he did that, in the middle of June, my phone rang in the Pentagon -- my caller was none other than then Lt. Col. Vernon "Dick" Walters [who later became our Ambassador to the UN & Deputy Director of the CIA].

He said, "Robert, I hear that you speak Turkish. Is that true?" [He was on the phone to me from the basement of the Pentagon, where he was assigned to the Standing NATO Group as interpreter & intelligence chief.]

I suggested he ask any of the Turks in his NATO group. So, he rang off, made the necessary queries, and in a few minutes he called me back...

"How would you like to escort the Chief of the Turkish General Staff, Gen. Feyzi Mengüç, to the upcoming H-Bomb tests?"

Of course, I leapt at the chance & sure enough, two weeks later all the Big Brass assembled in Washington, DC for a few days to get acquainted before flying -- on John Foster Dulles' personal plane -- to Honolulu & then on to Eniwetok.

During that brief interim, I took Gen. M. for a quick bus ride to places of interest near his hotel. He spoke only halting English -- which is why Walters wanted me in the first place.

After boarding the bus, Gen. M. started to tell me something in English. I replied in Turkish,

"Pasam, bunun gibi durumlarda Türkçe konusmakta hem kolaylIk hem de çok emniyet var. Onun için, izin verirseniz, Türkçe konusalIm. Hatta aynI zamanda da etrafImIzdakiler hakkInda istedigimiz her hangi bir sey söyleyebiliriz -- tamamen emniyetliyken.
[General, in situations like these, it's both easy and quite safe to speak Turkish. So if you permit, let's speak Turkish. Moreover, at the same time, we can say just about anything we want to about the people around us, in complete safety.]

He grinned & agreed. It was just fine with him. And so, we began a private 'unclassified' conversation -- which continued for several clandestine minutes. And, we thought we were being pretty clever, I'll tell you…

We became so confident, in fact, that we threw caution to the wind and began a frank assessment of the people around us. After a few minutes more, we noticed an attractive lady rise from a seat nearby and prepare to depart from the bus. And as she passed us, she leaned over and -- you guessed it -- softly said in perfect Turkish,

"Dikkat edin; Wasington'un her tarafInda bolbol Türkler var." [Be careful, Washington is full of Turks.]

The General and I did a double take in true Hollywood style. Then he, I, and the attractive lady exploded in laughter together. And, in a flash, she was gone.

Well, you can be sure that, for the rest of our bus journey, our conversation was the very picture of propriety!!!