World: Sullivan--Cool Salesman

The spiral staircase leading to the ambassador's office on the second floor of the American mission in Tehran is lined with photographs of the Shah posing with every U.S. President from F.D.R. to Jimmy Carter. In the ambassador's own living quarters, there hangs a lacquered painting of a peaceful Vietnamese peasant scene with a simple inscription: "To my friend Bill Sullivan." The signature is that of South Viet Nam's ex-President Nguyen Van Thieu.

William H. Sullivan, 56, who played a major role in shaping U.S. policy in Southeast Asia, has been Washington's man in Iran since 1977. Last week, as he was...

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