Active duty.

Mrs. Boggs goes to the Vatican

As everyone knows, the political atmosphere in Washington has been extremely partisan and rancorous the past few years. It was at once surprising and satisfying, therefore, when, for a few weeks this past November, all factions seemed to come together in a spate of approval of, and a series of celebrations of, a presidential appointment - that of the Honorable Corinne Claiborne Boggs as ambassador to the Holy See. The confirmation hearing of Mrs. Boggs was a veritable love-in with senators from both sides of the aisle singing her praises.

The hearing was followed by luncheons and dinners honoring the woman everyone calls "Lindy," certainly one of the most beloved officials in recent Washington history. The guests at her thronged swearing-in ceremony were a wonderful melange of people from her native state, old friends and colleagues, long-time Washington "names" (Katherine Graham and Millie [Mrs. "Tip"] O'Neill, Linda Johnson Robb and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and their husbands), five cardinals, the presidents of Washington universities and of Tulane (where she had an office when she retired from Congress), members of the Jewish community, Boggs children and grandchildren - one could go on and on. No one present doubted that Lindy Boggs, comely and quick as ever at eighty-one, would be an effective ambassador. Her diplomatic skills, her leadership qualities, and her considerable charm have been evident throughout her years in Washington.

From the time Mrs. Boggs came to town as the wife and capable political partner of Congressman Hale Boggs (later long-time Democratic majority leader of the House), she was a presence for the good on the town's social and volunteer scene. For example, when, at different times, she was president of the Congressional Club and of the Women's National Democratic Club, she saw to it that each group was integrated with no loss of membership. The same qualities made her an outstanding legislator when she was elected to the House after her husband's death. She served for nine terms. As the first woman appointed to the Vatican by the U.S., she has behind her a history of "firsts" - among others, first woman from Louisiana to be elected to Congress and first woman to chair a Democratic national convention.

The expression of good feeling about Boggs's appointment was all the more surprising if you recall the uproar when it was first suggested by President Harry Truman that the United States have a representative at the Vatican at all, let alone a woman who was an observant Catholic. Protestant and Jewish organizations were up in arms. Civil libertarians mounted protests. Truman solved the matter by appointing Myron Taylor, a non-Catholic, as his personal representative. It was not until 1984, when President Ronald Reagan upgraded William Wilson, his special envoy, to the rank of ambassador, that the post was accepted as part of the diplomatic service.

The official political reason for having a representative at the Vatican - especially during the cold war - was that the Vatican was a splendid listening post, particularly for gathering information from Eastern Europe. That was, and is, a practical and factual reason. But a letter from President Truman [October 2, 1947] to his wife Bess indicates that more idealistic reasons were in play and probably have been in play ever since:

Had Myron Taylor in, too. Looks as if he and I may get the morals of the world on our side. We are talking to the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop at the head of the Lutheran church, the metropolitan of the Greek church at Istanbul, and the pope. I may send him to see the top Buddhist and the Grand Lama of Tibet. If I can mobilize the people who believe in a moral world against the Bolshevik materialists, who believe as Henry Wallace does - that the end justifies the means - we can win this fight.

Now fifty years later, Ambassador Boggs takes the raison d'etre of her new office very seriously. Even before her swearing-in, she was already at work. She took a flying trip to Europe to attend a special meeting of U.S. envoys before coming back to the briefings and language preparation at the State Department. She has this to say about the purpose of the office she now holds: "Of course the Vatican is still a great listening post. There are many countries accredited to the Holy See, and not all of them have relations with the United States. But more important are the global goals and the global issues that are of equal concern to us and to the Holy See - lasting peace, science used for the betterment of mankind, solutions to the critical issues posed by refugee problems, global warming, the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, human rights, the illegal drug trade. We know that the widespread work of the church in almost every part of the world gives the Vatican a unique perspective on these things. We know how earnestly the Holy Father seeks answers day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month. It will be instructive to observe and cooperate with this process and to watch the preparations for what he calls the 'Great Jubilee Year - the year 2000.'"

In all the celebrations before Ambassador Boggs took off for Rome, there was an interesting subtext - the acknowledgment of the strengthening factor of a seldom-recognized community in Washington - the skein of interconnections and relationships of the many families who have come here for public service of one kind or another. At her swearing-in by Vice-President Albert Gore, Jr., Lindy Boggs alluded humorously to a picture of herself holding him - she hoped lovingly - when he was only four. His father had served with her husband in the House and the families were close. In a toast at another event, Linda Johnson Robb, daughter of the president, who has known Boggs since she herself was a little girl, and whose husband now serves in the Senate, called the ambassador her "other mother." This shadow community gives Washington a small-town feel and is supportive to its emissaries.

Lindy Boggs's son-in-law, journalist Steven Roberts, husband of ABC anchor Cokie (Boggs) Roberts, says, "I wish every member of the media had the kind of relationship to a political family that I enjoy. They would know more about the sacrifices and rewards of political life. It would do a lot to combat the pervasive culture of cynicism - cynicism that runs deep in the mind of the general public and is fed by the concentration of the media on scandals and the public's appetite for them. To me, politician is not a dirty world and public service is a noble calling.

"Unfortunately, the whole idea of public service has been devalued and diminished in this country by what a friend of mine calls the 'cynicism industry,' and something precious has been lost. Public office is not the refuge of scoundrels. Most politicians seek office to serve - as Hale and Lindy did - not to satisfy their egos or to fatten their wallets. My wife and I live in the house Hale and Lindy occupied. The phone sometimes still rings with calls from people seeking help, the help they were sure they would get from their representatives."

It is from such a community of public service that Ambassador Boggs came and a surety that she will continue to serve and find in service her reward.