New Man in Paris

Though he seems born to diplomacy, David K.E. Bruce's initiation was not promising. Following World War I, he worked as a diplomatic courier. His assignment was to deliver a baby grand piano to a Y.M.C.A. club in Istanbul. En route, the piano was stolen and never reached its destination. Discouraged, Bruce temporarily abandoned any thoughts of a foreign-service career and returned home to enter law school.

That setback was almost the last in a distinguished career. The stylish, handsome Bruce, now 72, has all his life moved gracefully through decision-making circles, gravitating easily to positions of power. A natural arbiter, he remains polite and analytical on the most controversial of subjects. These characteristics have served him well. When he retired last year, after nearly a decade as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's--the longest anyone had held the post--he was the country's senior ambassador and the only one ever to have headed America's three leading embassies in Western Europe--London, Bonn and Paris. President Kennedy considered him for Secretary of State, passing him over only because of his age (he was then 62) in favor of Dean Rusk, who was 51.

The son of a former U.S. Senator from Maryland and brother of a onetime U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Bruce came by his diplomatic leanings naturally. During World War I, he spurned the socially acceptable officer's commission and enlisted in the Army. He served in the artillery ranks in France, where he earned his officer's epaulets. Following law school, he entered law practice in Maryland, then spent most of the next twelve years in private life.

But the lure of international diplomacy was never far away. World War II drew him to London as an American Red Cross representative, and later as a director in the Office of Strategic Services. In 1947, President Truman appointed him Assistant Secretary of Commerce. He has since served the Government in various roles, including Under Secretary of State, head of the Marshall Plan mission to France, and special representative to the European Coal and Steel Community.

Bruce has been twice married and is the father of four children. He personifies the careful diplomat. A Democrat, he successfully served under four Presidents. When he retired last year, a group of the nation's most prestigious foreign policy practitioners gave him an elaborate luncheon. He sat through the customary paeans, never raising an eyebrow or twitching a facial muscle. It was a show of the kind of reserve that led Nixon to pick Bruce as chief negotiator at the Paris peace talks.

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