(4 of 4)
In part the reason may be that small talk does not come easily to her. Her detractors claim she has no sense of humor. Her friend Arthur Schlesinger Jr. notes wisely, "She has a great memory, and that can pass for humor." If Churchill colored her life, he also colored her speech, which tends to rolling rhetoric and echoing generalities.
So what is the secret of this ageless enchantress? Can concentration be the answer? The columnist Joseph Kraft remarked that she is "an eloquent listener." Her brilliant blue eyes never rake the room but stay focused on her companion. "She coaxes secrets out of men because she works at it," observes Holbrooke, just named ambassador to Germany. "When she goes after a man, he is a goner."
Another facet of her secret is sheer vitality. There is great energy in her step; when she enters a room, she makes an immediate impact. She radiates health, and for good reason. She still rides, swims regularly and is an implacable hiker. The hikes occur at her country estate in Middleburg, Virginia, and at her spread in Sun Valley, Idaho. That's where she goes to relax (always accompanied by legions of houseguests).
Harvard president Neil Rudenstine admires her for knowing "that there is a lot to get through in life." When Harriman wants to be alone to think things out, she either climbs a hill or gets on a horse. She is guarded about her image. She initially agreed to write her memoirs with former TIME correspondent Christopher Ogden, then abruptly withdrew from the project. Ogden is proceeding with an unauthorized biography, as is another writer, Sally Bedell Smith.
All intuition and tactics, Harriman has no fixed public philosophy or agenda. She appeals to harried politicians because she still believes in the old ideals that Churchill taught her. Postwar Paris excited her because she felt a new world being formed there, at the Marshall Plan headquarters and NATO. Her problems in Paris now are thorny issues of trade talks, Bosnia and the future of NATO. But she believes they will be solved, and in a morally responsible way. In mid-interview she whips out a statement she wrote the night before about how the U.S. and France "have responsibilities to create a world where peace can rule." She believes every word.
For most of her life she lived for men and through them. But now she is on her own, thriving and surprisingly eager to get aboard the feminist bandwagon. When Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary came to Paris for a conference recently, Harriman arranged for her to address an international meeting on women's issues. She is transparently proud of her granddaughter Marina Churchill, who is a London barrister. When asked if she would lead an independent life like Marina if she were starting out now, the blue eyes blaze: "Would I? Would I?" Yes, you can bet she would.