ELLSWORTH BUNKER: Global Troubleshooter, Vietnam Hawk, Howard B. Schaffer, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2003, 380 pages, $34.95.

The idea of diplomacy is the reasonable bargaining between men--a formula that fits Ellsworth Bunker's diplomatic career. After a successful business career, he was an ambassador for a succession of presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Jimmy Carter. Bunker helped broker and negotiate agreements over West New Guinea, Yemen, the Dominican Republic, and the Panama Canal, but he might best be remembered as the Ambassador to South Vietnam, 1967-1973.

Bunker behaved as a professional, not a talented amateur. He believed his job was to maintain state-to-state relations and acted as a technician and a craftsman without grand theories of diplomatic relations or America's place in the world. He concentrated on finding solutions to immediate issues to further U.S. foreign policy objectives, which made him a supple negotiator with firm beliefs about the right of self-determination and the improvement of the lives of ordinary people.

Bunker was most effective as a negotiator, in part because of the trust five presidents placed in him. His business experience stood him in good stead as he formulated the principles of a good negotiator, which to a great degree followed maxims formulated by the classic commentators on Western diplomatic practice, then modified to fit 20th-century circumstances. Although every negotiation was different, Bunker believed several common techniques could be followed to ensure success.

Bunker created an informal atmosphere, usually a secluded setting, in which the contending parties could develop familiar personal relations. He offered draft proposals that could become the basis for bargaining and used small, intellectually supple staffs to quickly anticipate changes before they could be second-guessed. He tried to avoid State Department bureaucratic in-infighting, and for the most part was successful. The only exception was the Panama Canal Treaty, where he defended his work to both the Congress and the American people.

Howard B. Schaffer has written a fascinating biography highlighting the ways military and diplomatic power can work together to settle knotty problems between states. Over the course of his life as a business executive and diplomat, Bunker exemplified patriotic American values in that he was willing to tackle difficult and sometimes arduous and dangerous tasks in the service of the Republic. His diplomatic career epitomizes the ideals of patriotism and selfless service. This biography gives the reader insights into the way diplomacy works on a day-to-day basis and how U.S. interests are furthered through peace and conflict.

Lewis Bernstein, Ph.D., Madison, Alabama