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Section V. Culture

Lunch with... gentlemantly U.S. diplomat John Herbst
American Ambassador John E. Herbst doesn't have any
spare time, and Nov. 11 was no exception. He arrived promptly for
lunch at French-themed Le Grand Cafe on Muzeyny, his press
secretary soon to follow. He never suggested that the waiters in
white shirts hurry and he didn't rush the interview, but, as he
had been on every other day since his arrival in Kyiv on Sept. 13,
Herbst was running on a full schedule.
"I don't have a whole lot of personal time," he said in an
even unflinching tone. "This is a very intense job, and generally
speaking career diplomats who become ambassadors are used to
working pretty intensely."
After his lunch at Le Grand Cafe, he was to set off for his
next two appointments - a meeting with Ukrainian President
Leonid "Kuchma, followed by a dinner, at his own ambassadorial
residence, to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Aside from being an ambassador, Herbst is also a family
man who has arrived at previous diplomatic postings with five
children in tow. Now his two oldest daughters study and work in
the United States and his three youngest children are here with him
in Kyiv. He said that the transitions were easier for some of his
children than others, but that he spends as much time as he can
with them.
"I have a large family, and you can't ignore your family. Bad
things happen when you do. So the time I'm not working, I spend
with my family, especially the kids. I spend a lot of time with my
wife as well, but she's going to turn out okay, she already has,"
Herbst said.
Herbst sat straight-backed on one of the red plush chairs in
Le Grand Cafe's bar room. He's a tall, thin man with a long narrow
face and dark features - inherited from the Italian side of his
family. He looked both deserved and dignified in a dark suit and

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