Channeling In

In its heyday, Santa Barbara’s Channel City Club hosted some of the biggest names in the country. Senator Fred Thompson, for example, then considering a run for president of the United States, addressed a crowd of some 400 or so at the old Miramar. The event was memorable in that “Mr. Santa Barbara,” the late Larry Crandell, made humorous comments on the color of the senator’s tie, so much so that it caused Mr. Thompson to look askance at his on-stage host and ask the audience assembled, “Who is this guy?” Raucous applause and laughter ensued. Other notables over the years include Elizabeth Dole (also running for president, early on), Ray Bradbury, Kenneth Starr, and well, a host of celebrities and political figures from across the spectrum. 

The Miramar closed at the turn of the 21st century and at the same time other venues opened up for such speakers, most of whom are enticed by speaking fees, which the Channel City Club never offers and never has. Despite the competition, the Channel City Club switched locations to Fess Parker’s Doubletree Inn and the 72-year-old institution continues to this day.

Its latest speaker – sponsored by Condor Express and its owner, Hiroko Benko, and hosted by Channel City’s Committee on Foreign Relations, currently headed up by Brian Robertson, founder and now retired CEO of Robertson Travel – was retired U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan (not all at the same time, of course), Ryan Crocker, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer with a long and distinguished career. Mary Ellen Hickey, a notable (and Carpinteria-born) Foreign Service officer who retired from the service with the equivalent rank of a two-star general herself, introduced Ambassador Crocker.

Mr. Crocker began his career at the U.S. consulate in Khorramshahr, Iran, in 1972, and from there “rose to the highest ranks in the foreign service,” Mary Ellen says in introducing this impressive public servant. Ambassador Crocker now serves as a diplomat in residence at Princeton University.

Crocker has been praised by figures as disparate as Colin Powell, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and general David Petraeus. “Not a bad career,” Hickey notes, “for a boy from Spokane, Washington.”

Crocker’s review of the past decade or so in the Middle East is astute, as his numerous gigs as ambassador (three times under a Republican administration and the same number of times in a Democratic administration), gives him a unique vantage point. Unfortunately, he doesn’t offer much hope for a lessening of tensions in that area anytime soon. His knowledge of the differences between Shia and Sunni philosophy is deep; his hopes, however, concerning Christians, Jews, Kurds, and others in the region are not particularly positive.

In any case, listening to men and women of Ambassador Crocker’s stature is what the Channel City Club and its Committee on Foreign Relations is all about.

Up next: Thursday, February 8, will be General William J. Begert; his topic: “Reality of North Korea.”

General Begert will discuss the Korean peninsula from the U.S. military perspective. He is in a good position to see it from that viewpoint, as he served as commander, Pacific Air Forces, and Air Component commander for the commander, United States Pacific Command, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

General Begert flew more than 300 combat missions over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, has logged more than 875 combat hours, and served as vice commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe during the air war over Serbia. He has been retired from the military since August 1, 2004, and is currently a VP at Pratt & Whitney, Military Engines division. 

To join the Channel City Club or to learn more, go to: www.channelcityclub.org or info@channelcityclub.org. You are also invited to call at (805) 564-6223.