John Quincy Adams in Russia [antikvár]

Since World War II, no group of American diplomats has enjoyedmore influence or prestige than a small corps of Russian specialists.For a generation, George F. Kennan, Charles Bohlen, LlewellynThompson, Foy Kohler, and Jacob Beamto name only the keyfigureshave towered above most of their colleagues in the ForeignService. On more than one occasion, each departed from the ordi-nary role of implementing policies to play an active role in theformulation of those policies. It is, however, no derogation of thesemen and their abilities to recognize that their prominence arose,in part, from a historical accidentthe emergence of a bipolarworld, dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union, at atime when few Americans in official positions knew the Russianlanguage, the country, its rulers, and its people. The most basic lawof economicsthat value derives from scarcityapplies equally indiplomacy.But, from a historical perspective, the prestige and importanceof these twentieth-century Kremlinologists pales before the brilliantcareer of America's first diplomatic specialist on Russia and itsfirst recognized envoy to that nation, John Quincy Adams. Thesixth President of the United States, Adams was, also, James Mon-roe's Secretary of State, an ambassador to London, a member ofboth the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and a keyfigure in the negotiations that ended the War of 1812. And he was,of course, the only President of the United States whose father hadalso been President.Born on July 11, 1767, in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts,John Quincy Adams was a precocious child. His ability as a linguistwas particularly outstanding, and it was this talent that broughthim to Russia even before the American colonies had won theirindependence. In 1781, the Continental Congress decided to send