Sanjuan, Pedro A. 1930–

(Pedro Arroyo Sanjuan)

PERSONAL: Born August 10, 1930. Education: Attended Rutgers University and Columbia University; Wofford College, B.A.; Harvard University, M.A.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Random House/Doubleday, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Civil servant, artist and writer. U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, deputy of chief of protocol, 1962, director of Office for Special Representational Services, 1962–63, director of Office of Chancery Affairs, 1963–64, State Department transition team policy coordinator; member of Inter-American Policy Coordinating Committee, 1963–66; Interlandia Corp., president, 1969–71; CLOSE-UP, executive director, 1970–71; Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, DC, special assistant to principal deputy assistant secretary, 1971, deputy director of policy plans for negotiations and arms control, 1971–73; assistant for strategic and economic analysis and director of Energy Task Force, 1973–75; Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), public-affairs advisor, 1975–77; White House, Washington, DC, member of staff, 1977–78; U.S. Department of the Interior, former assistant secretary. Institute for East-West Dynamics, president; United Nations Secretariat, director of the political affairs division, c. early 1980s. Founder, resident fellow, and director of American Enterprise Institute Hemispheric Center. Host of weekly radio program, Whitney Network. Exhibitions: Art displayed in galleries, including Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, 1956–59.

AWARDS, HONORS: American Enterprise Institute fellow.

WRITINGS:

(Guest editor) U.S. Nuclear Export Policy: Views from Latin America, American Enterprise Institute (Washington, DC), 1979.

Dubya & Eddie, Guignol Press, 2002.

War, Guignol Press, 2002.

Book of Clones, Guignol Press, 2002.

Fighting Geezers: A Manual for Seniors Who Don't Like Getting Pushed Around, Guignol Press, 2003.

Fables: Innocent, Shameful, Irreverent, Guignol Press, 2004.

The UN Gang: A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Anti-Semitism, and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including New York Times, Washington Quarterly, and Wall Street Journal.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Caparrucha's War, In 2084 A.D., The Holy Rabbit, Monica Lewinsky Meets John F. Kennedy, and Secrecy, Covertness, and Huggermuggery.

SIDELIGHTS: A protégé of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, Pedro A. Sanjuan worked for many years in the U.S. government and the United Nations. He is also the author of several books, including self-illustrated satirical fables and lampoons, and writes about government organizations in his book The UN Gang: A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Anti-Semitism, and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat. In the book, Sanjuan—who was known as a rebel throughout his career, which included working for both Democrat and Republican administrations—relates how his real job at the United Nations differed from his official appointment. According to the author, he was directed to spy on the organization during both the Reagan and Bush administrations. He also describes a dysfunctional United Nations that he dislikes intensely. Among his many assertions are that the Russian KBG intelligence unit operated with impunity in the U.S.-based U.N. library and that the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, may have originated in the United Nations. "He portrays a culture that sanctions incompetence, revels in anti-Semitism, winks at drug sales in the U.N. parking garage, encourages espionage … while failing to execute its fundamental mission to improve the quality of life around the globe," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The reviewer also commented that the book would provide fodder for those seeking to reform the United Nations and called the author "as amusing as he is opinionated." Another reviewer, writing in Publishers Weekly, commented: "The author delivers a lively, preening, sometimes eye-opening insider's account."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Sanjuan, Pedro A., The UN Gang: A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Anti-Semitism, and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2005.

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2005, review of The UN Gang, p. 725.

Publishers Weekly, July 11, 2005, review of The UN Gang, p. 73.

ONLINE

Pedro A. Sanjuan Home Page, http://www.pedrosanjuan.com (September 13, 2005).

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Archives at the University of Texas, http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/ (July 2, 1981), "Nomination of Pedro A. Sanjuan to Be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior."