![]() 25.Īgainst the background of the argument, the Kennedy Center announced this week that the position of executive director was being abolished. Stevens's critics have been louder than his defenders, and the senators will press their inquiry in hearings on appropriations before the Committee on Environment and Public Works starting Oct. Stevens says he regards the Kennedy Center as a sacred trust his critics say he thinks of it as a personal fiefdom. Stevens, the center's chairman, or does it reflect the public interest, too? Mr. A number ofīroadway producers, supported by several United States Senators, argue that the issue is the theatrical policy of the Kennedy Center: Is it simply a reflection of the tastes and interests of Roger L. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington has turned into a flourishing debate. Sir Roger Stevens died 20 February 1980.A once quiet argument about the John F. In 1977 he married Jane Chandler (nee Irving). He was also Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University, 1963-1970, Chairman of Yorks and Humberside Economic Planning Council, 1965-1970, a member of the Panel of Inquiry into Greater London Development Plan, 1970-1972, Chairman of the Committee on Mineral Planning Control, 1972-1974, and a member of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, UNAT, 1972-1977. In 1962 Stevens published 'The Land of the Great Sophy' (reprinted 1971). Stevens held the following positions: Secretary of British Civil Secretariat, Washington, 1944-1946, at the Foreign Office, 1946-1948, Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1948-1951, British Ambassador Sweden, 1951-1954, British Ambassador to Persia, 1954-1958, Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1958-1963, and Advisor to First Secretary of State on Central Africa, 1963-1970. In 1931 he married Constance Hallam Hipwell (died 1976) and they had a son. In 1928 he entered the Consular Service and served in Buenos Aires, New York, Antwerp, Denver, and the Foreign Office. Two interesting items in the collection are Sir Roger's account of the attacks on British ships at Alicante and of the events in Valencia when he spent a brief period there during the Spanish Civil War (STVS 1/25) and the correspondence and notes he was compiling on Sir William Strang (STVS 10) with a view to writing his biography shortly before his own death in 1980. However the bulk of the material of this later period relates to his membership of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal (UNAT), including several judgements delivered by this body. There are in the collection some letters, press cuttings and speeches relating to Sir Roger's Vice-Chancellorship of Leeds University (STVS 11) and also copies of reports by a number of committees to which he belonged after his retirement from the Foreign Office. The collection also includes speeches, notes, book reviews, lectures and articles written by Stevens after his retirement from the Foreign Office on topics including the Middle East, Iran and Persia (STVS 9). This also includes photographs taken throughout Stevens' life of his youth, his diplomatic role as Ambassador to Sweden and Persia, his role as Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University and his later life. These documents are complemented by the many photographs Sir Roger took whilst travelling Persia which depict the people, art, architecture and scenery of the country (STVS 12). From his time as Ambassador to Persia, Sir Roger gained a passionate interest in the people, art and history of that country and the collection contains the notes he used in writing two books on Persia, "The Land of the Great Sophy" and a work on seventeenth century European travellers in Persia originally entitled "Persian Bandwagon" but renamed by Sir Roger after the revolution which overthrew the Shah as "First View of Persia". An interesting example is Sir Roger's diary from 1962 (STVS 8/25 b) which documents his tour of South Africa and includes his observations on colonial policy and administration and newspaper cuttings regarding his view of apartheid. The letters are supplemented by journals and diaries that Sir Roger kept throughout his life. These are full of vivid accounts of places visited and events witnessed, reflections on issues of the moment at the time and discerning descriptions of the people he was meeting in Argentina, the United States, Sweden, Paris, Antwerp, Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Persia (now Iran). Throughout his life Stevens sent lively and detailed letters home to his parents from his foreign postings as he did to his first wife, Constance, in the intervals when they were apart. The principal interest of this collection lies in the day-to-day picture it presents of diplomatic life.
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