(Classified)(Classified)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400360004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 3, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Content Type: NSPR

MIAMI HERALD STATINTL
Girc.: m. A;gy>d For Release 2000/04/14: CIA-RDP75-00001 RO
S. 240,817
Front Edit Other i_
Page Page Page
Young Taft Discards Striped Pants
Mark in Ireland
To Made Diplomatic
Howard Taft III son of the late
senator from Ohio and grand-
son of the former President,
is making diplomatic history In
Ireland as American ambassa-
dor to -the Emerald Isle.
Young Taft has become a
sort of a cross between the all-
American boy and the young
Abraham Lincoln to the people
of Ireland.
Anytl-4ng but a cookie-pusher
or tea-hound, Tat spends a
good apart of his time' out in
the' country meeting the. people
on their home grounds.
He leaves the embassy Chrys-
ler, the chauffeur and his strip.
ed pants at home when he goes
visiting. He folds h):s lank fig-
ure into a pocket-sized Fiat and
chugs the country roads alone.
He is liable to show up any
place, emerge from his midget
scooter and introduce himself
as the American ambassador.
The Irish, having a healthy
disdain for stuffed shirts and
pomposity, think young Bill
Taft 1s just about the greatest
thing that ever came out of
Washington..
He speak English or Erse,
CPYRGHT
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT III
... meets the people
the language of Ireland, which
is more than a lot of the city
Irish can do. ". -
An expert on Ti'eTand, young
Taft is more" interested in the
country's farm problems than
he is in high=ledel politics. Aft-
er all; Ireland ?Js largely an
agricultural country and the
_
loss of population from the
farms is hurting production
there is about $18,000.000 left
over from ECA, Taft told ens.
We are planning to earmark
about $6,000,000 of this to es,
tablish an agricultural Institute.
The Irish would provide the
staff and maintain it once we
get it started.
The country badly needs
such an institute where gradu-
ate study can be carried out.
Improved farm methods will
benefit the country. Testing of
cattle for tuberculosis is needed
because Ireland exports beef
and .bullocks to England.
Taft Is now averrlging two
speeches weekly to various
groups in all parts of Ireland.
He rarely turns down an Invi-
tation to address a group no
matter how small or hoW far
away.
The nnJd Taft was an
English instructor at Yale Uni-
versity from 1945 to 1948 and
considers himself more of a
scholar than a diplomat or pol-
itician.
He was born In Bar Harbor,
philosophy degree at Princeton.
He was instructor in English
at the University of Maryland
and Haverford College until the
war came along and he was
assigned to Army intelligence.
He went back to teaching at
Yale after the war but in 1948
became special assistant to the
ECA mission in Ireland. He was
with the Central Inte igence
Agency in IP"? sident
Eisenhower was elected.
At Yale Taft became' a seri-
ous student of Ireland. He did
research work in the old and
middle Irish languages.
He Is married to the former
Barbara Bradfield of Grand
Rapids, Mich., and they have
four children.
An Irish newspaper editor
told me that his cQnntrvmen
considered young Taft the fin-.a_
eat representative and friend of
Ireland the United [tates has i
ever sent tb Dublin.
We feel, he said, that this is
more than just another job
for him. He is In Trelani he-
cauceit is his great interest.
Approved For Release 2000/04/14: CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400360004-1