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28President. Jeanne Kirkpatrick was Ambassador to the UN at the time andshe believed that the UK was being imperialist and that the US shouldstand aside. The consequences of backing Britain, she said, would bedisastrous for the US, whose long-term interests lay in preserving goodrelations with Latin America. She was unmoved by arguments whichcontrasted America%u2019s oldest alliance with a convenient arrangementbased on promoting anti-Communism in Latin America, or a democraticgovernment with a military dictatorship; nor did she appear to beimpressed by the thought that military aggression had taken place in theAmerican hemisphere and that it might perhaps be a good idea for theUS to disapprove. She held to her view even after being instructed tovote for a UN resolution demanding the withdrawal of Argentineanforces from the Falklands.Sir Nicholas Henderson could have been cast in Hollywood as theclassically eccentric Englishman. Haig described him as being%u2018studiously rumpled%u2019, and Weinberger said that %u2018Nicco%u2019 (as he wasknown) %u2018took great delight in violating many of Saville Row%u2019s ideas ofproper dress%u2019. The Ambassador was remarkable during the crisis. Hehurled himself at it and seemed to be everywhere at once: in the WhiteHouse; at the State Department; on the Hill; talking to the press;appearing on television. He was on at least one, and usually several,morning news programs almost every day and he was enormouslyeffective in promoting Britain%u2019s cause. America heard his aristocratictones and took one look at his lugubrious face, his uncontrollable hairand his rumpled collar %u2013 and loved him. One senator interrupted Nicco infull flood once and told him that his arguments were powerful but thatwas not why the Senate was with him %u2013 it was because he was British.The senator went on to say that he thought it unlikely that the samestrong feelings could have been stirred in the US if the South Atlanticconfrontation had been between Argentina and Brazil.Early every morning, the Ambassador%u2019s staff, including the defenceteam, met to brief him before he went on television. For me, inparticular, it was a challenging experience. Nicco understood infantry orfrigates, but his conception of air power seemed to be frozen in the year1916. He thought that delivering a bomb on target could surely not be adifficult matter %u2013 putting a hole in the Port Stanley runway, for instance.Details like the 4000 miles of open sea between the Ascension base andthe target, the multiple refuellings at night, enemy radar and SAMs,