When Jon M. Huntsman Jr. was about 11 years old, visiting the White House where his father worked as a special assistant to President Richard Nixon, he happened to run into Henry Kissinger.
The boy walked Kissinger out to his car, and the national security adviser mentioned he was leaving on a trip. He was going to China.Not until later, when he was back in school, did it dawn on Huntsman that he had witnessed the start of a trip of historic importance, one of Kissinger's secret first treks to China. These preliminary trips set up the president's trip in 1972, in which the previously closed communist nation began to open to the West.
"I guess that really sparked my interest in Asia," Huntsman said during a recent interview in his office in Research Park.
When he grew up, he went on to government assignments in Washington and overseas, culminating with his appointment as ambassador to the Republic of Singapore.
While he is one of the highest-profile Utahns to serve in foreign service, he is just one of a surprising number from this state who have made themselves into major players on the world stage.
From the diplomatic corps to private philanthropy, Utahns are helping to shape relations with other countries and protect world security.
They've found adventure and danger overseas, and many continue to reach out to citizens of other countries.
After his brush with history in the White House parking lot, the youthful Huntsman learned Mandarin Chinese. He served a mission to Taiwan for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1979-81. Later, he worked as an advance man for President Reagan, traveling in the United States and to foreign countries to help prepare for presidential trips.
In 1984, he went to China to scout locations for Reagan's own trip to that country. He was moved when he heard Reagan speak to his Chinese hosts in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
In 1989, after the election of George Bush to the presidency, "I was fortunate enough to land in the international trade area of government as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for international trade," Huntsman said. Next, he served as deputy assistant secretary of the Commerce Department for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
In 1992, Bush appointed him ambassador to Singapore. It was a vital post, as Singapore is one of the trading partners of the United States, with total commerce amounting to more than $38 billion yearly.
As the Cold War ended, the Utahn helped to reshape the country's Asia strategy. "I was surprised how much we could accomplish," he said.
From Utah to Singapore to Europe to Indonesia and beyond, Utahns have notched considerable foreign service. The stories of some, told below, are illustrative of many, many more.
Richard R. Burt
Those who attended Highland High School in the middle 1960s may remember Burt as the boy who was briefly kicked out of a class in 1964 for wearing a Barry Goldwater campaign pin. What some may not realize is that he went on to an astonishing career in diplomacy, becoming the ambassador to West Germany and the chief U.S. arms negotiator.
Burt was born in Chile. His father was a Kennecott Copper employee from Brigham City who was stationed for a time in South America. The family soon returned to Utah, and Burt remembers living in Magna near the Kennecott smelter.
During the 1960s, the family lived near 2100 South, and Burt attended Highland. Experiences at the high school shaped his later career.
"I got very involved with debate," he said. "I was not only able to travel (with the debate club), but more importantly, the issues in those days were international." For example, one debate topic was whether the United States should recognize communist China.
"I spent a lot of time thinking about those issues and found that I enjoyed them. Also, there was a program called the U.S. Senate Youth Program," he said. He was selected as one of two Utah high school students who went to Washington, D.C., to represent the state.
"We went over to the State Department, we met the secretary of state," he said. "I just got exposed to that process of foreign policy and foreign affairs and immensely enjoyed it."
After graduation from Highland, Burt went to Cornell University. His next stop was the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an institution specializing in foreign policy. It is administered by Tufts and Harvard universities.
For the following five years, he worked at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. He then became a diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times.
When Reagan was elected, Burt became assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian Affairs, 1983-85. He was appointed ambassador to West Germany, 1985-89, during the exciting time when the country was moving toward reunification.
In 1989, Burt was appointed chief U.S. negotiator for the control of nuclear arms. He was the chief negotiator at the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks with the Soviet Union. "I got fired when Bush lost (his next election,)" he said, laughing.
Burt is now a senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and chairman of the Washington investment banking advisory services firm International Equity Partners.
Jordan Tanner
On Dec. 4, 1964, a mob trashed the U.S. Information Agency center in Jarkarta, Indonesia, and for a while the official in charge - Tanner, a native Utahn - feared for his life.
"I thought I was literally going to be killed, because they came in by the hundreds," said Tanner, who is now a member of the Utah House of Representatives from Provo.
He went down from his upstairs office to survey the damage just as a young correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor arrived to interview him. The streets were so jammed that the reporter could not get through in a car and had to hire a bicycle rickshaw to get to the center.
The reporter was John Hughes, now editor of the Deseret News.
For 27 years, Tanner served the USIA, an agency that promotes American interests by exposing residents of foreign lands to this country's culture through visits and libraries.
Tanner graduated from the University of Utah, served in the Navy aboard an aircraft carrier and then went to the University of California at Berkeley and took the Foreign Service Exam. He joined the USIA in October 1960.
He was stationed in Jakarta starting in 1961. He left in 1965, shortly before the overthrow of Indonesian President Sukarno.
During that period, communist groups whipped up hatred against the West through such strategies as big billboards denouncing the United States and enormous parades that wound through the city carrying Uncle Sam figures with daggers stuck through them.
The British chancellery was burned. Gangs broke into the homes of British diplomats, ransacking the houses and killing pets.
Then they attacked the center where Tanner was director and tried to set it on fire, but it didn't burn. After the attack, Indonesian students who were more friendly toward America helped to put the American Center back together. But in February 1965, the mob returned.
"This time they were really bound and determined," Tanner said. He and an employee of the center remained inside while the mob surrounded the building.
"I was literally held hostage at that time, and told that I was in there indefinitely."
Negotiations between the American ambassador and Sukarno's office resulted in presidential security police, the Red Berets, clearing a path through the crowd. The armed police freed the hostages.
Was he terrified? "Well, it was an interesting experience," he said.
Tanner remains committed to the cause of international cooperation, sometimes helping the State Department with tours by international visitors.
Brent Scowcroft
Scowcroft is another example of this small state producing foreign service of the highest caliber.
A native of Ogden and a retired Air Force general, Scowcroft now lives in Bethesda, Md.
He joined the White House in February 1972 as a military adviser to President Nixon. After a series of promotions, he became President Ford's national security adviser in 1975.
Scowcroft served on President Carter's arms control and advisory committee. In 1989, President Bush returned him to the office of national security adviser. He served in the post until 1993.
This year, Scowcroft and his close friend Bush co-authored a book, "A World Transformed," a discussion of foreign policy in the Bush administration.
Today Scowcroft is president of a Washington consulting firm, the Scowcroft Group, and president of the Forum for International Policy. He continues to speak out on national affairs.
Jon M. Huntsman
Another of the Huntsman clan has reached out from Salt Lake City to have tremendous influence overseas: Jon M. Huntsman, the older member of the father-son team of business executives.
Huntsman is chairman and CEO of Huntsman Corp. and Huntsman Chemical Corp. Based in Salt Lake City, the companies have annual sales of $5 billion and 9,000 employees.
After an earthquake devastated Armenia in 1988, Jon Huntsman organized relief efforts that made the family into a virtual Marshall Plan for the country. The family has contributed more than $18 million to rebuild Armenia.
Relief airlifts organized by the family delivered supplies from American cities, including several tons of clothing and medical supplies for earthquake victims. The Huntsmans built a pre-cast concrete plant in Armenia - a major source of employment.
In September, Huntsman hosted Armenia President Robert Kocharyan for two days as Kocharyan toured this country. He and Kocharyan discussed plans to build a concrete tile factory, and Huntsman said he intends to provide a $10 million interest-free loan to the Armenian government so it can build homes.
Karen Shepherd
A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Salt Lake City, Shepherd has lived in London since October 1996. She represents the United States on the board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and De-velopment.
She also serves as chairwoman of the board's steering committee. In addition, she is involved in many community and business groups.
According to the bank, Shepherd serves on the executive committee for the American Chamber of Commerce in London, where she chairs the East-West Trade and Investment Forum.
Khando Chazotsang
As a child, Chazotsang was a refugee from the Chinese takeover in Tibet. She grew up in India, Europe and England. Today she works for the Utah Department of Health as coordinator for ethnic health. She also is a board member of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
She is a strong campaigner for the rights of women and children throughout the world.
"In August, they (the commission) sent me to India and Nepal to collect some data and information about . . . (treatment of) Tibetan women in Tibet," she said. In interviews with women who had fled from Tibet to India and Nepal in the past five years, she and other members of the team collected information about reproductive health, health care, education, human rights and prostitution.
"The women suffer more, not only because they are Tibetans, but because they are women," she said. "They have cases of sterilization, (forced) abortion and forced birth control among Tibetan women, terrible abuse in prison - mental and physical."
The group intends to present a report to the United Nations.
Next: Education brings thousands of internationals here, while locals are studying abroad.