Latest News

Georgetowner • July 2, 2012

Castleton Festival at the Hylton: Gershwin and Company: An All-American Evening

June 28th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | $30, $45, $60 | hylton@gmu.edu | Tel: 888-945-2468 | Event Website

The young artists of the Castleton Festival perform “Gershwin and Company: An All-American Evening,” a musical celebration of the American spirit, under the baton of world-renowned Maestro Lorin Maazel. Pianist Kevin Cole joins the orchestra for a riveting performance of George Gershwin’s most popular work, “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Address

Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA 20110

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

June 28th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | Free | Tel: 202-633-1000 | Event Website

Wednesdays-Sundays, June 27-July 8

The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between the Smithsonian museums. Admission is free.

This year’s theme includes:

Citified: “Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River,” “Campus and Community” and “Creativity and Crisis.”

Address

The National Mall (Between the U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial) Washington, DC

Community Class at Down Dog Yoga

June 29th, 2012 at 04:00 PM | 6-10$ | Event Website

Every Friday, Down Dog Yoga offers a community class at a discounted rate to encourage new yogis to sweat it out. The reduced drop in rate is $10 per class or $6 for students. Register online beforehand to secure a spot!

Address

Down Dog Yoga, 1046 Potomac St NW

Georgetown Group Runs

June 30th, 2012 at 09:00 AM

Join Georgetown Running Company with a few friends a weekly weekend run. Every week, the community is welcome to join a group that leaves from the store.

Address

Georgetown Running Co., 3401 M St NW, Washington, DC

Penguin Bob Reading and Drawing

June 30th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

Artist, author and illustrator Joe Jamaldinian enthralls the kids with an exciting adventure featuring his children’s book character, Penguin Bob. With some help from the audience, Joe sketches a colorful story in which Bob follows his quest to teach children to pursue their dreams in a multi-cultural world of fascinating people.

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Great American Festival

June 30th, 2012 at 03:00 PM | $39.00-69.00 | Tel: 877-628-5427

Ozomatli and Eve 6 are among the dozen bands and DJs taking over National Harbor’s piers, pavilion and beach area for a day-long pre-July 4 blowout. Local acts the Dance Party, See-I and Hot 99.5 DJ Chris Styles are also featured. Expect the usual mix of food vendors, beer tents and games, capped with fireworks over the Potomac River. Special VIP tickets include unlimited beer and access to a private area with acoustic sets by Ozomatli, the Dance Party and See-I.

Address

National Harbor, 150 National Plaza, Fort Washington, MD

GUATEfest

July 1st, 2012 at 08:00 AM | $10 pre event, $15 at the door, Kids under 12 are free | guatefest2012@gmail.com | Tel: 703-587-2720 | Event Website

GUATEfest is a Guatemalan Festival featuring cultural activities, music, food, crafts for kids and much more. Featuring bands- Radio Viejo, Giovanny Pinzon, Osman Broody, Sonora Concepcion, Invasores Musical, Banda FM zacapa, Tormenta Musical, Raibales and more. Come and join us to support the Latin Community on July 1st 2012. 8am-8pm. Please purchase tickets from Megamart, RIA/Bancomerico, Ticketlatino.com

Address

Gunston Middle School, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206

Independence Day Ice Cream Social

July 3rd, 2012 at 01:00 PM | $5-10, Military Free | mkatz@tudorplace.org | Tel: (202) 965-0400 | Event Website

George Washington loved ice cream, and the founders of Tudor Place loved and revered their forebear George Washington. We’ll start with a special, family-friendly mansion tour focusing on its many George and Martha Washington connections. Then, make your own ice cream sundaes in the garden, and enjoy children’s games and crafts. All participants will receive a special copy of a rare, personal letter from Washington belonging to the Tudor Place archives.

Address

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, 1644 31 Street NW

Whitney Saupan • June 29, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be showing in Georgetown June 27 for an exclusive fundraising dinner party hosted by Bob and Suzy Pence.

Unlike Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Romney does not appear to scoff at “Georgetown cocktail parties.”

The invitation-only dinner will cost $50,000 per person and will be held in the Pences’ penthouse at 3030 K St., N.W. That is the address for the condominiums of Washington Harbour, where Nancy Pelosi also lives. The dinner is one of three fundraising events for Romney taking place this month in or near D.C.

On June 25, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), both potential vice-presidental running mates with Romney, will be at a reception geared toward young professionals. The reception will be held on a rooftop in downtown Washington. Tickets begin at $100 per person.

Ann Romney will headline a dinner fundraiser being hosted by former Maryland governor Bob Ehrlich and his wife, Kendel. The fundraiser will take place near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and tickets will begin at $1,000 with dinner costing $15,000 per person

Robert Devaney •

After months of contentious discussions along with private and public meetings and press coverage as well as D.C.’s Zoning Commission hearings on Georgetown University’s 2010-2020 campus plan and the adjacent neighborhoods’ objections, the hour of decision is at hand. And it has taken the added weight of the District government to seal the deal.

The Executive Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia issued a media advisory Tuesday: Mayor Vincent Gray, Georgetown University President John DeGioia and Ron Lewis, chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, “will make a major announcement regarding Georgetown University’s campus plan and engagement with neighborhood and city leaders” at the intersection of 36th and P Streets, N.W., just outside the university’s main campus, Wednesday, June 6, 2:30 p.m.

After a tense impasse on zoning discussions on the campus plan, Gray began to get his office more involved. The mayor had spoken at an October 2011 ANC meeting and said that he thought the issues surrounding the campus plan could be resolved. Last week, he spoke at the annual meeting of the Citizens Association of Georgetown and indicated that an agreement was 95 percent complete.

According to the mayor’s office, “District leaders have been working closely over the last several months to bring Georgetown University officials and Georgetown neighborhood leaders together regarding the school’s campus plan.”

Robert Devaney •

Some D.C Council members are preparing for a trip to Las Vegas at the end of the week. It is for a retail and real estate trade show, which some of them have attended before, at the Las Vegas Convention Center across from the Las Vegas Hilton and near the new, shiny Wynn Resort and other temptations.

Their attendance may be good for Washington business, but it still looks a little awkward, what with the brouhaha over a GSA trip to Sin City in the Nevada desert.

RECon — May 20 through May 23 — is the “world’s largest gathering of retail real estate professionals and provides the opportunity to network, make deals and learn from industry experts,” the group says. “No other retail real estate convention attracts a worldwide audience. With over 30,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors it is the largest industry convention, making it an unparalleled opportunity to do a year’s worth of business in just three days. So, if you are looking to meet with retailers to discuss new or existing leases in your center, then you need to have a presence at RECon.”

WAMU, which first reported on the Las Vegas trip, wrote: “The D.C. Council is doubling down on Las Vegas this year, sending an unprecedented number of council members and staff to the Global Retail Real Estate Convention, which is hosted annually by the International Council of Shopping Centers. The D.C. Council is sending perhaps as many as 15 or 16 people to the . . . conference, many on the taxpayers’ dime. Why? The city’s real estate market is hot. Big box retailers want in, and once-overlooked neighborhoods and projects — St. Elizabeth’s, Walter Reed, Penn Branch — are now primed for development. Council members are looking to, as several put it, bring home the bacon.”

Council members reportedly traveling to the show include chair Kwame Brown — who wrote a letter to his peers about the trip and told WAMU, “Clearly my letter indicates that for everyone going, there should be justification on why you are going” — and Jack Evans, Jim Graham and Vincent Orange.

According to Washington, D.C., Economic Partnership, the local non-profit which has registered some of the council members and others for the convention, “Washington, D.C., has remained a top investment market both nationally and globally, even through the most recent recession. Despite D.C. development activity bottoming out in 2009 with only 4.3 million square feet of construction starting, it made a quick and significant comeback in 2010 with nearly 11 million square feet of construction starts. This dramatic increase was in large part due to federal and local government investment in the office, hospitality and education development markets.”

“The increase in retail space last year verifies that the District’s retail market is alive and thriving, and we need to make sure that this story is being told across the region and the nation,” says Keith Sellars, president and CEO of Washington, D.C., Economic Partnership.

O.K., that’s a pretty good reason. Besides the obvious attractions, a big one is no longer there. The Lamant Peterson-Amir Khan boxing match, set for May 19 at Mandalay Bay, has been canceled because Peterson failed a drug test.

Robert Devaney •

President Barack Obama zipped a few blocks from the White House to the Ritz Carlton May 8 to address the 18th Annual Gala for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. It was a day after the Ritz hosted the likes of Prince Harry and Ban Ki-moon for the Atlantic Council’s big dinner. Obama entered the ballroom which proved campaign-ready.

With shouts of “aloha” and “mahalo,” the president spoke before an enthusiastic and loud crowd in the standing-room-only hall. “Four more years! Four more years!” the crowd yelled to Obama, who responded, “Thank you. Everybody, please, please, have a seat. Have a seat. You’re making me blush.”

Citing his own life story, Obama said, “Now, I am thrilled to be here tonight because all of you hold a special place in my heart. When I think about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, I think about my family — my sister, Maya; my brother-in-law, Konrad . . . My nieces Suhaila and Savita. I think about all the folks I grew up with in Honolulu, as part of the Hawaiian ohana. I think about the years I spent in Indonesia. So for me, coming here feels a little bit like home. This is a community that helped to make me who I am today. It’s a community that helped make America the country that it is today. So your heritage spans the world. But what unites everyone is that in all of your families you have stories of perseverance that are uniquely American.”

After Obama left and darted back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one of APAICS’s leader, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said that the president was not born with “silver chopsticks” or “silver rice bowl,” for that matter. Honda then asked the group, “Are you ready for the next four years?”

Besides political and congressional leaders, such as House minority leader Nancy Pelosi or Norman Mineta, the 1,000-plus crowd included Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan, actress Grace Park and Miss D.C. Ashley Boalch.

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) is a national non-partisan, non-profit organization that is “dedicated to promoting Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process, from community service to elected office.” According to the 2010 Census, Asian Americans comprise the fastest-growing group in the U.S. and are now getting more attention from politicians for their votes.

Robert Devaney •

Georgetown Farmers’ Market Re-Opens Wednesday

The Georgetown Farmers Market opens Wednesday, May 2, for its tenth season in Rose Park.

The Friends of Rose Park, in cooperation with the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, sponsors the Georgetown Farmers Market in Rose Park for another season. The market will be open, rain or shine, every Wednesday until Halloween from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. near the corner of 26th and O Streets.

“The Friends of Rose Park has been delighted with the neighborhood support for this project in Rose Park, and we hope the Georgetown community will join us on opening day,” according to the group.

The market welcomes newcomers and regulars to the park:

= Two Oceans True Foods: free-range turkeys, chickens and eggs as well as family-caught seafood

= Oh! Pickles: a wide variety of homemade pickles

= Baguette Republic: artisan breads, cookies and more

= Anchor Nursery: fresh vegetables, fresh cut flowers, plants

= Quaker Valley Orchards: berries, honey, apples, peaches, greens

= Praline Bakery: French bakery specialties; dinners-to-go, croissants

= Les Caprices de Joelle: paella, soups, quiche, waffles and other goodies

Neighbors and volunteers interested in helping at the market one day a month and local non-profit groups interested in getting on the calendar at the market should e-mail RoseParkMarket@yahoo.com.

Rose Park is located between M and P Streets, N.W., bounded on the west side by 26th and 27th Streets and on the east side by Rock Creek Parkway. Its facilities include three tennis courts, a basketball court, a baseball diamond, two playground areas and substantial open space. [gallery ids="100757,123127,123121" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

During lunchtime on April 30, 2007, a fire nearly destroyed the Georgetown Public Library at R Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The flames of the collapsing cupola and roof attracted neighbors and news crews, as the D.C. Fire & EMS Department struggled with low-pressure hydrants and used one blocks away.

That same morning, a fire had swept through Eastern Market, one of Capitol Hill’s most popular food, shopping and meeting spots. Stunned city officials and residents feared the two places would never completely recover.

Today, both buildings have been re-built and made even better — thanks first to the firefighters of Washington, D.C. The library and its Peabody Room are a source of information as well as pride for its neighbors.

Georgetowners, thinking they had lost the history that is contained in the library’s Peabody Room, were relieved to learn that almost all items had been saved. The collection houses books, photographs, maps, manuscripts, newspapers, artwork and artifacts documenting Georgetown’s two-and-a-half centuries.

Here is what Jerry McCoy, Special Collections Librarian, Peabody Room, has to say:

“Today is the fifth anniversary of the Georgetown Branch Library fire. The fire destroyed two-thirds of the second floor of the library. The remaining one-quarter was the Peabody Room. Had it not been for the professionalism of the D.C. Fire & EMS Department more than 250 years of Georgetown’s history would have been lost.”

Named in honor of 19th century merchant, banker and philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) and established in 1935, the Peabody Room is a special collections section of the Georgetown Public Library. The Peabody Room is open Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 pm; Thursday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. [gallery ids="100759,123146,123140,123137" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

On stage, Delray—the owner of a black underground music bar in Memphis, circa 1951—paces the floor with an eye out for trouble. His sister is on the stage, singing sassy and soulful blues numbers, and all male eyes in the joint are on her, and Delray’s eyes are on them. Delray is an imposing guy. He’s a little scary a times, a serious man who hides his soft spots well, a balled fist at his side.

Delray is one of the mainstays and main characters in “Memphis,” a loud, electric, fast-paced, high-energy Tony-Award winning musical now on its Washington stop through July 1 of a national tour at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, trying and succeeding in bowling over by its sheer force of energy. Delray is pivotal to the proceedings, which involve a goofed-up young white man named Huey and his discovery of rhythm and blues evolving into the coming of rock and roll—and his discovery of Delray’s sister, Felicia, with whom he’s smitten. Delroy fumes, he doesn’t like it, you can practically see his eyebrows bristles, his fist clench tighter.

Quentin Earl Darrington, who plays Delray understands the man. “I know what he’s about doesn’t mean I’m him, but I know where he’s coming from,” said Darrington, a personable, passionate-about-theater man. “This is the South. You can’t do certain things. There are race laws, and this is termed race music by white people. So, he’s suspicious, especially of a white man getting sweet on his sister.”

Darrington is a serious guy, serious about his role as an actor, about being on stage, about being on the road, about race and economic and racial divides in the country, about his responsibilities—and the joys thereof—of being the father of three young boys, about his future.

Like many young boys who idolize their kin, Darrington wanted to be a football player like his brother but instead started getting into acting at the high school he attended in Lakeland, Fla. “Mr. Hughes, my teacher, he stuck by me, encouraged me,” he said. “My folks weren’t that keen on the idea.”

“This show, it’s more than just about the music,” he said. It’s about the times, how music figured in all of that, how it burst out onto the national scene. There really was a guy like Huey who was a local deejay here in Memphis who played our rhythm and blues and rock and roll. He had a TV show, and he was a forerunner, like the guy who discovered Elvis and Dick Clark in Philadelphia. The music was jumping out and it was important because it brought people together, whether they liked it or not.”

Darrington is coming back to the Kennedy Center and the memories of his last trip here were all good. He had the stirring, difficult role of Coalhouse Walker in the Kennedy Center-mounted production of “Ragtime,” a second-go at the musical version of E.L. Doctorow’s novel about America on the move into modernity in the early 1900s. Walker was a man with a mission, he wanted to marry the woman he loved, he was a charistmatic man with huge pride and style, he wanted to show off his Model T, he wanted to do good and shine in the world, until his run with some New York firemen totally changes his life.

“That was such a great experience, such a game-changer for me,” Darrington said. “It was a big role, but it was complicated. You had to think about his life, and your own life, and what he wanted and the country. It makes you grow, it made me grow, and going to Broadway with it was absolutely terrific. You know, it’s the kind of thing that really made you think, about who you are and what kind of man you want to be.”

One of the things he wants to be is a good father, the best father. He’s used to the road and uses it—to reach out to the communities, where “Memphis” is playing, and take part, but he wants to stay close to his children.

“You’ve got to think about things like that,” he said. “I love acting, what I do, who I am, but you’ve got to think of other things, too. And the stage—you’ve got to expand. Coalhouse in “Ragtime” made him think about that. “It’s funny. I think about him almost every day, he comes to mind a lot.” Darrington thinks a lot about going back to school, which he plans to do next. “I want to teach others someday,” he said. “I want to open doors, for myself and others.”

Meanwhile, Delray paces the stages, his fists clenched.

“Memphis” will be at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through July 1.

Georgetowner • June 27, 2012

The Castleton Festival

June 22nd, 2012 at 07:30 PM | info@castletonfestival.org | Tel: 866-974-0767 | Event Website

The Castleton Festival’s fourth season June 22-July 22 brings classical performances, musical theater, opera, bluegrass and fine dining to the rolling hills of Castleton, Virginia (65 miles from DC) with 21 performances featuring The Barber of Seville (June 23 and 29, July 1), Carmen (June 30, July 6 and 8), A Little Night Music (July 13-16), concerts of Beethoven, Mahler, Bach, Gershwin and more.

Address

The Castleton Festival Theatre, 7 Castleton Meadows Lane, Castleton, Virginia, nestled in the rolling hills of Rappahannock County, 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

Fete de la Musique

June 22nd, 2012 at 06:00 PM | Free | marine.cornuet@francedc.org. | Tel: (202) 234-7911 | Event Website

For the past 30 years, June in France has been characterized by hundreds of amateur and professional musicians invading public spaces across the country to share their music. From jazz to electro, the Fête de la Musique has evolved past the point of local festival to become a nationwide tribute to all genres of music.

Address

3401 Water Street, NW

Coldwell Banker’s Art Exhibition & Sale

June 22nd, 2012 at 05:00 PM | mnute@cbmove.com | Tel: 202-333-6100 | Event Website

Established Artists Supporting Emerging Artists
Georgetown Coldwell Banker office is hosting an Art Exhibition and Sale to benefit Duke Ellington School of the Arts. June 22-23.
A group of local artists are contributing their work with a portion of sale proceeds to be donated to the school’s art programs through CBRB Cares, the charitable arm of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
Wine and cheese reception Friday June 22nd from 5–8:00 pm. Exhibition hours 12–7 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Address

3050 K Street, NW, Plaza Level, Boardwalk Entrace, Overlooking the Potomac River

Creative Opera Ensemble: Hansel and Gretel

June 23rd, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

The classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale of two lost waifs who stumble upon a delicious gingerbread house deep in the woods, is brought to life in an imaginative musical production set to Engelbert Humperdinck’s enchanting score. Kids are invited to sing, dance and even act in this fun-filled performance that introduces opera in a friendly and engaging atmosphere guaranteed to entertain the entire family!

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

2nd Annual Thai Village in Georgetown

June 23rd, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Free | nipatsornk@thaiembdc.org | Tel: 202-298-4790 | Event Website

Ambassador Chaiyong Satjipanon, Thai Ambassador to the United States, is hosting the 2nd Annual Thai Village in Georgetown. The event will feature a broad range of popular dishes from all four regions of Thailand, along with Thai drinks, and soft beverages. Cultural performances will include a demonstration of Muay Thai (Thai boxing), music and dances.

Address

Grace Church (Across from Thai Embassy), 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Walking Tour – “Mr. Nourse’s Neighborhood: Georgetown c. 1800”

June 24th, 2012 at 01:00 PM | 10 | info@dumbartonhouse.org | Tel: 202-337-2288 | Event Website

Join Dwane Starlin for this stroll through Georgetown’s streets, circa 1800, the way Joseph Nourse would have viewed his neighborhood from Dumbarton House.

$10 per walker (ages 3 and under free) Meet at the corner of Q and 27th Streets, NW Tour starts at 1:00pm Rain or shine 1 hour tour 3 years and younger are free, must be in a stroller No pets allowed Wear comfortable shoes and clothing No reservation required (cash or check only at door), but pre-paid reservations welcome

Address

2715 Q Street, NW

Nordic Jazz Festival

June 26th, 2012 at 06:00 AM | $25-$50 | rsvp-hos@foreign.ministry.se | Tel: (202) 467-2645 | Event Website

This year’s Nordic Jazz 2012 presents seven outstanding jazz acts from the five Nordic countries-presenting some of the best performers the Nordic region has to offer.

On June 26, jazz bands from Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark will take the rooftop stage at House of Sweden.

Address

Twins Jazz, 1344 U Street Northwest

House of Sweden – Embassy of Sweden, 2900 K Street, NW

Embassy of Finland, 3301 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Gary Tischler • June 18, 2012

When it comes to international affairs, there’s always a lot of talk about American Exceptionalism in political circles and not so much about exceptional Americans.

In the cultural and art world, you hardly ever hear the phrase.

You would have with John Paton Davies, Jr., prescient and courageous American diplomat and later in life, an artist and always husband, father, grandfather.

All of those qualities come to the fore in Davies’s posthumously published autobiography, “China Hand.” (Davies died in 1999 at the age of 91.) It coincided with a remarkable exhibition called “A Singular View: The Art and Words of John Paton Davies, Jr.,” which closed recently after a stay at the Mansion at Strathmore.

It was an exhibition that shimmers with a singular life and a history of the times and interests of Davies, a veteran American diplomat whose advice and reports about China during World War II and immediately after eventually cost him his job, an extreme case of the consequences of daring to speak truth to power during the McCarthy era.

The exhibition, the autobiography and the work and life all showcased qualities deserving of attention—for historians, for lovers of unique art, and admirers of singular people.

Davies was that rarest of men—a true American original, whose expertise, curiosity, gifts and knowledge functioned at a high level throughout his life. He lived the life of a high-ranking and highly-regarded foreign service professional among many of his peers—George Kennan was a friend. In the 1950s, having lost his career he began another, moving to Lima, Peru, to open a furniture store with his wife and family. He excelled in both worlds, but he was much more than that—good father and husband, exceptional writer and student of history and art.

All of this was very much in evidence in the art he created while in Peru, in the memoir, in the life. Many of the prints—he based them on pre-Columbian art—also bear a striking echo of Chinese art in their dramatic simplicity. Both the Latin American and Chinese-influenced prints seemed at once ancient and modern, something he saw clearly in his study of the art. “While the record of these ancient art forms reflects the flight of centuries, it is apparent in that in their strength, their vitality, often in their humor, they are modern as tomorrow, as rich and visited to the decorative quality as a millennium of yesterdays,” he wrote.

That’s a fact, and that’s poetry, also. The exhibition includes photographs from his life—of Davies and his wife Patricia Grady Davies in their studio in Lima, among others. The works, mostly monoprints comprise a kind of journey, and are not devoid of a winsome quality as well as a powerful simplicity. Most of the works in the exhibition had been seen publically only once before in 1961 at the Little Gallery in Birmingham, Mich.

Davies was the son of American missionaries in China and was born there. He entered the then new professional foreign service in the 1930s and served in China beginning, off and on, in 1933. He was on the staff of the legendary General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell in World War II. In China, he saw the forces of both Communist leader Mao Tse Tung and Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek up close. Davies argued that Chiang was corrupt and would not prevail in the battle against the Communists and suggested that the U.S. establish ties with Mao. This kind of assessment—while accurate and pragmatic—did not sit well with the powers-that-be in Washington, embroiled in the McCarthy disloyalty hunts of the time. Davies and other China hands were caught up in the furor, characterized as men who had “lost” China. He had numerous security investigations against him, all unfounded and with no proof of disloyalty ever found. Instead, the staunch anti-communist Secretary of State John Foster Dulles fired him for lapses in “judgment, discretion and reliability,” after Davies had refused to resign. In 1969, after years of battling, Davies had his security clearance restored.

He and his wife—a writer and partner in her husband’s business in Peru—moved the family to Peru, site of his last diplomatic posting. They were married for 57 years and raised a family of seven, six daughters and a son, among them Patricia “Tiki” Davies, who was for years the communications director at the Kennedy Center.

In pictures, Davies, sometimes wearing sun glasses as on the cover of his autobiography, looks lean, intelligent and thoughtful. Like so many things, pictures don’t always tell the whole story. They certainly don’t encompass the life, work, art, loves, family and friendships, of the exceptional American life lived by John Paton Davies, Jr. In “China Hand,” you find a man with a keen gift for to-the-point story-telling. The book encompasses his foreign service life and is full of insights about the men and women he encountered, among them Stilwell, Kennan, Mao Tse Tung, and Chiang Kai Shek.

(“China Hand” is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, part of the Haney Foundation Series.) [gallery ids="100733,121371,121365" nav="thumbs"]