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Dr. Edwin Oldfather Reischauer, 50, is set to take over the embassy in Tokyo. Another Harvardman, Reischauer was born in Japan, graduated from Oberlin, received his Ph.D. from Harvard, where he is now director of the Center for East Asian Studies. Both scholar and diplomat, Reischauer spent considerable time in Japan, served on the State Department's Far Eastern desk in the hectic years of Asian upheaval after World War II, published more than half a dozen books on the Orient, has been an advocate of U.S. recognition of Communist China and a critic of American "overemphasis" on military power in Asia. In 1956 Widower (three children) Reischauer married Jaoanese Newswoman Haru Matsukata. granddaughter of Prince Masayoshi Matsukata, who was twice Japan's Prime Minister in the 1890s and one of the builders of modern Japan. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Reischauer was sharply critical of "the shocking misestimate of the situation" by his predecessor, Douglas MacArthur II (who will head the Belgian embassy in his next post), during the riots that brought cancellation of President Eisenhower's visit to Japan last spring. Of particular appeal to the Administration is Reischauer's intimate knowledge of Korea as well as Japan. The State Department would like to bring Korea back into Japan's orbit, thus take some of the heat off Japan's search for greater trade with Red China.
George Frost Kennan, 56-will go to Belgrade as Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Onetime Ambassador to Moscow (1952) and longtime student of Communism and Russia, Kennan singlehanded did much to awaken the U.S. to the dangers of postwar Soviet imperialism, authored the Truman Administration's "containment" policy. Careerist Kennan was shunted into exile (to the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study) by John Foster Dulles in 1953. In 1957 he flirted with "disengagement," i.e., neutralization of Germany" and the disarming of NATO, as a means of reaching a settlement with the Russians. No less a person than his ex-boss, Dean Acheson. slapped him down. "Mr. Kennan has never, in my judgment, grasped the realities of power relationships," said Acheson, "but takes a rather mystical attitude toward them." But Tito's Yugoslavia should give Kennan an ideal opportunity to sense the internal rumblings of international Communism.
Earl Edward Toiler Smith, 57, is slated to go to Bern as Ambassador to Switzerland, although the Swiss have made it clear that they are less than pleased. Financier, sportsman, onetime member of the Republican national finance committee, Palm Beach neighbor and old friend of Jack and Jackie Kennedy. Smith was Ambassador to Cuba from 1957 to 1959. An ardent supporter of ex-Strongman Fulgencio Batista, Smith early recognized Fidel Castro as a pro-Communist fanatic but underestimated the strength and public support of Castro's rebel band—an oversight that helped fan the smoldering embers of Cuba's anti-Americanism. Smith left Yale after two years, married Consuelo Vanderbilt in 1926. Twice divorced (second wife was Mimi Elaine Richardson), Smith is now married to Florence Pritchett, television personality and sometime clothes designer.