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name: S. Davis Phillips ’61 ambassadorship:
Republic of Estonia (2007-2009)
Ambassador S. Davis Phillips stands before the Presidential Palace prior to presenting his papers to the President of Estonia. His wife, Kay, is standing behind the Chief of Protocol and his four daughters are standing to the right.
longitude/lat: 59° 00'N and 26° 00'E
Both Dave Phillips and William T. Monroe ’68 say they were influenced by language and history faculty Johannes van Straalen. “If I could point to one thing at Choate that played a key role, it was the fabulous Russian language studies program,” says Bill, who was Ambassador to Bahrain from 2004 to 2007. “I came to Choate with no particular interest in foreign affairs, but I decided to take Russian, primarily to spice up my transcript. Jo van Straalen’s language program, with its emphasis on more than just language study and the fantastic summer trip to the Soviet Union, opened my eyes to the world and generated my lifelong fascination with foreign languages and cultures.” Says Dave, who now is chairman and founder of an investment holding company with textile and furniture interests: “I went on Mr. van Straalen’s Russian Studies travel program in the summer of 1961. I even attended courses at Moscow State – an unforgettable experience, at a time when hardly anybody was traveling to the Soviet Union.” John Danilovich credits the School’s Spanish program: “I learned Spanish at Choate with the great Juan Lopez,” he says, “and went on the Choate summer school program to Spain in 1965 with George Cushman and his wife, and it was an amazing time.” Those who don’t single out a person or a program cite Choate’s culture of exploration and service. “I fell in love with history, literature and foreign languages at Choate, thanks to some really inspiring teachers,” says Victoria Nuland ’79, Ambassador to NATO from 2005 to
2008. “I developed a hunger to meet and understand the many diverse people behind the words in the books.” Robert D. McCallum Jr. ’64, Ambassador to Australia from 2006 to 2009, says Choate inspired him in two ways. “When I was a student, [then-Headmaster] Seymour St. John always stressed public service,” he says, “and that means community involvement. “Later, I was privileged and honored to serve on the Choate Board of Trustees in a completely different era, and from a completely different perspective. The international aspect of education, global involvement, was all of a sudden at the fore. Many, many more international students were at Choate then, and many more Choaties were spending time doing things abroad. That, too, was part of my Choate education.” Bill Monroe, who is now retired and living in Florida and Cambodia, says “One of the real attractions of a career in the foreign service is that you have ‘I'm not in Kansas anymore’ moments every time you move. And they can come from the most ordinary of moments, or the most serious. Example of the former: Stepping out on my balcony at dusk over the Nile in Cairo and hearing the evening call to prayer booming from minarets all over the city. Example of the latter: Talking on the phone from our embassy in Islamabad to an officer at our consulate in Karachi, when a car bomb exploded near where he was standing. These sum up, in a nutshell, the life and work of a diplomat: immersing oneself in foreign cultures while remaining prepared for crises that can come up at any moment.”
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