The Ugly American: A Fictional Story with a Nonfictional Message

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Recommended: The importance of cultural understanding

The Authors of The Ugly American, William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, wrote a fictional story, with fictional characters about a fictional country. The only thing that was not fictional was the message that they were trying to convey about what was wrong with America’s foreign policy. It is not a coincidence that their message directly correlates to the Special Operations (SO) Imperatives. I will discuss specific characters in The Ugly American and how their actions did or didn’t mirror those of certain SO Imperatives. Also, I will show that the actions of the characters that mirrored the SO Imperatives were able to achieve positive results.
The first SO Imperative that I will discuss is understanding the operational environment. The Honorable Louis Sears was the American Ambassador to the country of Sarkhan. He was disliked by the Sarkhanese because his manners annoyed them and he only knew a few words of their language. Those characteristics led the Sarkhanese to believe that he was stupid and their editorial cartoons reflected that. Louis Sears is a good example of not understanding the operational environment. Had he understood the operational environment he would have had a deep understanding of the Sarkhanese culture. Through his actions or lack there of he demonstrated that he knew practically nothing about the Sarkhanese. As an Ambassador, Louis Sears was a disgrace. To be an effective ambassador one should know their operational environment inside and out.
John Colvin was not an Ambassador, but he knew his operational environment inside and out. Colvin was an OSS agent during World War II and was deployed to Sarkhan. By the very nature of his profession he was required to understand his operational e...

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... Atkins knew a little of the language and was making an effort to speak to the headman in his own language. Atkins continued to speak with the headman with the few words that he knew and explained to him that he would need the help of a local worker. The local worker needed to have mechanical skills to help him build the pump and that this worker would become part-owner of the pump. After some negotiating they agreed and the headman introduced Atkins to Jeepo, the village mechanic. The American engineer and the Sarkhanese mechanic spent the rest of the day building the water pump and after a few setbacks they were satisfied that the pump met their expectations. Then Atkins and Jeepo hired some of the local villagers to start production of the water pump in Chang ‘dong. Emma and Homer Atkins quickly moved to Chang ‘dong to live and work with their new friends.

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