Charles Trueheart is the author of the book Diplomats at War: Friendship and Betrayal on the Brink of the Vietnam Conflict. It focuses on two diplomats, Fritz Nolting and Bill Trueheart (Charles Trueheart's father). Charles Trueheart is a former Washington Post reporter and former director of the American Library in Paris. He lives in Paris and in Staunton, Virginia.
Q: Why did you decide to write Diplomats at War?
A: The prologue -- indeed, the whole book -- tells the story of how this breach between Fritz Nolting and Bill Trueheart came about in 1963. It haunted me for the next five decades, and in retirement I finally had the chance to write about it.
Q: In the book, you write, “...I describe Diplomats at War as a work of memory hiding inside a work of history. That's one way to put it, but only to avoid calling it a memoir outright.” Can you say more about that, and about the balance between memory and history in this book?
A: The short answer is that it is not a memoir. I was determined from the outset to write a narrative account of this dramatic moment at the dawn of the Vietnam War, in what would be John F. Kennedy's last months as president.
I also knew I wanted to use the two principals, my godfather and my father, to focus and personalize the story. And then I had my own memories of being in Saigon as a 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old -- old enough to have some idea of what was going on.
Q: How would you describe the relationship between your father and Frederick Nolting?
A: These were two friends from graduate school days at the University of Virginia. They had served later as young foreign service officers in Paris, where our families were close. And then Nolting became ambassador to South Vietnam and asked for my father as his deputy.
David Halberstam describes them as Virginia-gentleman peas in a pod, but my book draws contrasts between their backgrounds (Nolting from a well-to-do Richmond family, Trueheart from more modest circumstances in a small town) and their temperaments (Nolting a sunnier and more trusting person than his more hard-nosed and skeptical friend).
Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: It was a chance to revisit a part of my late childhood and to interview my contemporaries about our life in Saigon. It was an opportunity to learn for the first time from the historical record -- oral histories, official telegrams, biographies and memoirs of the players, and more -- what Nolting and Trueheart were thinking and doing at the time.
I have had many letters and messages from readers of Diplomats at War who told me how much they had learned from it about a nearly-forgotten time and who appreciated the mix of straight-up narrative and personal observation.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Nothing! I don't have another book in me. I'm just enjoying talking about this book and hearing from its readers.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: The Nolting and Trueheart families, the survivors in any case, were able to reconcile to some extent and finally find closure for this sad experience.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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