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During his four years as Ambassador to Laos (1964-68), where he ran U.S. political and military involvement with an iron hand, Sullivan's reports were often memorably pithy. In one particularly difficult period, he cabled to Dean Rusk, then Secretary of State: AFTER YOU READ THIS REPORT, YOU WILL NO DOUBT WANT TO DISPATCH INSTRUCTIONS. PLEASE RESIST. WE HAVE ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS WE WILL EVER NEED. I WILL BE REPORTING MY ACTIONS. He also objected to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's notion of building a wire fence along the DMZ to keep Communist infiltrators out of South Viet Nam. He cabled Washington: HOW FAR ACROSS LAOS ARE YOU PREPARED TO STRETCH THE FENCE?
The ambitious Sullivan has sometimes been accused of "sleight-of-mouth" tricks—of changing his views to suit the policy of the moment. The reason is that he frequently argues his own views with passion but, when overruled, feels obligated to argue the official view with equal fervor. As ambassador, he pleaded eloquently against any allied invasion of Laos; back in Washington in early 1971, he argued the case for the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. Once, when he had stated a point with great conviction, he was reminded by a reporter that he had argued the exact opposite with equal persuasiveness a few months earlier. He paused for a moment, smiled and lifted a finger to his lips: "Shhhh..."