Hard Choices; Critical Years In America's Foreign Policy

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/fine. First edition of Hard Choices by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, inscribed to Ambassador Alfred Leroy Atherton, one of the primary architects of the Camp David Accords.. Octavo, 541pp. Blue hardcover, black cloth spine, title stamped in gilt on spine. The first printing, with a full number line on the copyright page. Light wear to boards, bumped lower corner. Library stamp from Birmingham-Southern College on edge of text block, where the Atherton papers were deposited. Bookplate on front pastedown. In the publisher's fine dust jacket, retail price on the front flap. This copy is inscribed by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance on the front free endpaper: "To Roy - With affection and heart felt thanks for all you have done and are doing. Without you, neither Camp David nor The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty could have been brought to fruition. Cy." An excellent presentation copy. Ambassador Alfred (Roy) Atherton (1921-2002) was a diplomat, United States Ambassador to Egypt, Ambassador-at-Large at the Camp David Accords, and during his three-decade career, one of the primary architects of United States policy in the Middle East. Atherton joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1946 and held various significant positions, including U.S. Ambassador to Egypt from 1979 to 1983. He was instrumental in the negotiations leading to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, doing the shuttle diplomacy before the summit to ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat would attend. Atherton retired from government in 1985.