July 10, 2001

Embassy Row
James Morrison
News and dispatches from the diplomatic corridor.

Diplomatic cowboy

     If the new Romanian ambassador ever called President Bush a "cowboy," he would mean it as a compliment.
     Unlike Mr. Bush's European critics who think a cowboy is a reckless, dangerous American, Ambassador Sorin Ducaru remembers when the word reflected a rugged, freedom-loving image -- a Frederic Remington figure riding a bucking bronco, a Gene Autry singing on the prairie, a Gary Cooper facing outlaws at high noon.
     In the ambassador's residence, Mr. Ducaru proudly displays a photograph of himself as a teen-ager wearing a cowboy hat. The photo was taken when Romanians lived under a brutal communist dictatorship.
     "That shows how much the American dream meant to a bunch of kids playing cowboy in the Romanian mountains," he told Embassy Row.
     Mr. Ducaru also bought an acoustic guitar and played country and western music. Kenny Rogers remains one of his favorite singers. He also loves American jazz.
     When the ambassador presented his credentials to Mr. Bush, he referred to what the American West meant to an Eastern European boy.
     "I represent a country of Europe, blessed by God with natural resources and beauty, as well as the talent and the kindness of its people, a nation of Latin identity and culture, which shares the values and ideals of Western democracies, a people with an overwhelming pro-American feeling, inspired by the American dream and success," he said.
     "As for myself, this moment is a dream come true -- a dream from the time of childhood when I was fascinated by my readings about the United States, inspired by the American spirit of frontierless possibilities based on ambition and hard work and was proudly wearing a cowboy hat."
     Mr. Bush praised Romania's progress toward a free-market democracy and its peacekeeping role in the Balkans.
     "Despite a tumultuous past and tremendous suffering under communism, Romania has come a long way during the past 10 years," he said.
     Mr. Bush called relations with Romania "one of the cornerstones of U.S. policy in southeast Europe."
     Mr. Ducaru, 37, is the youngest foreign ambassador in Washington. He most recently served as Romania's ambassador to the United Nations.