My Life of Service

The book begins with my birth in 1934 during the Depression. To put my life in perspective, I quickly switch from my childhood to a brief history of the Depression and Prohibition-both events directly influenced my parents, siblings, and me. Until the end of the Depression, I thought everyone was poor.
During the 1950s I learned about the long struggle of Black Americans for full citizenship. White people's knowledge of this struggle was limited due to the media's promotion of communism as the number one crisis confronting America. Allen Dulles persuaded Eisenhower to approve coups against the democratically elected Presidents of Iran and Guatemala in 1953 and 1954. Allen Dulles also expanded the CIA's active involvement in Indochina during the early 1950s. I described this as I relate my personal experience of visiting Saigon in the autumn of 1957 while working on the S. S. Steelworker. In November 1967 I was selected by the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation (NOLAC) Board of Directors to be the Executive Director. In February 1968, the first clients arrived. Since I was the only attorney, I interviewed the wife of Frank Johnson who was in jail pending trial. Earl Amedee, our Deputy Director had prior trial experience with the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office. He represented Frank Johnson at his trial; the jury returned a split verdict-nine for guilty and three for not guilty. I argued the case before the U. S. Supreme Court in March 1971 stating that a split decision was unconstitutional in view of the 14th Amendment's due process requirement that guilt be established beyond a reasonable doubt. Unfortunately, Justices Black and Harlan's illness precluded a decision; case was reargued January 1972. Nixon's appointment of Rehnquist and Powell changed Richard Sobel and my prediction of a 5-4 verdict for Johnson and Apodaca to a 5-4 decision affirming the prior Louisiana Supreme ruling.
My wife Isabel Machin and I divorced in April 1979. In October 1979 I married Prudence Bushnell who was sworn into the Department of State's Foreign Service in September 1981.
This began my new different life as a spouse of a foreign service officer. We had assignments to Senegal, India, Kenya, and Guatemala during Pru's twenty-four-year career. Our unusual experiences are described in the book especially her role as Ambassador to Kenya at the time of the al-Qaeda bombing of our embassy in August 1998 as reflected in Pru's book: TERRORISM, BETRAYAL & RESILIENCE: My Story of the 1998 U. S. Embassy Bombings.During the 1950s I learned about the long struggle of Black Americans for full citizenship. White people's knowledge of this struggle was limited due to the media's promotion of communism as the number one crisis confronting America.
Allen Dulles persuaded Eisenhower to approve coups against the democratically elected Presidents of Iran and Guatemala in 1953 and 1954. Allen Dulles also expanded the CIA's active involvement in Indochina during the early 1950s. I described this as I relate my personal experience of visiting Saigon in the autumn of 1957 while working on the S. S. Steelworker.In 1965, I graduated from law school after a rigorous routine of working daytime at an insurance company and attending law school at night. In October 1979 I married Prudence Bushnell who was sworn into the Department of State's Foreign Service in September 1981.
This began my new different life as a spouse of a foreign service officer. We had assignments to Senegal, India, Kenya, and Guatemala during Pru's twenty-four-year career. Our unusual experiences are described in the book especially her role as Ambassador to Kenya at the time of the al-Qaeda bombing of our embassy in August 1998 as reflected in Pru's book: TERRORISM, BETRAYAL & RESILIENCE: My Story of the 1998 U. S. Embassy Bombings.