Unquiet Diplomacy

On April 17, 2001, at the Citadel in Quebec City, Paul Cellucci presented his credentials as the 20th United States Ambassador to Canada to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. It would prove to be a historical period that came to define a colder realignment in Canada–U.S. relations. Canada and the United States would find themselves in the months and years after 9/11 often confronting each other over efforts to combat terrorism, calls for increased military budgets and support for U.S. missile defense systems, and continued rancor over the long simmering soft-wood lumber dispute. At the center of all the controversies was Paul Cellucci.

In this extraordinary and broad-ranging book, Paul Cellucci deals with all the issues that unite and divide Canadians and Americans in his outspoken and candid style that became his signature as ambassador.

Paul Cellucci's memoir, Unquiet Diplomacy, is remarkable portrait of a political life in an extraordinary political time.

September 11, 2001: a series of unprecedented and unthinkable terrorist attacks on the US. On the job less than six months, US Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci found himself on the front lines of an explosive new political dynamic, as Canada and the US diverged on issues such as missile defense and the invasion of Iraq.

Cellucci's career in government began in 1970 when he was elected to the Hudson Charter Commission in Massachusetts. One year later he won a seat on the Hudson Board of Selectmen and he served on that panel until 1977. In 1976 he was elected to the first of four terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1984, Paul Cellucci was elected to the Massachusetts Senate from the Middlesex and Worcester District, and during his third and final Senate term became the Assistant Republican Leader. Paul Cellucci was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts on a ticket with William Weld in November of 1990, and he and Governor Weld were re-elected in November 1994. Paul Cellucci became the Governor of Massachusetts in July of 1997 when William Weld resigned the post. On November 3, 1998, Paul Cellucci was elected the Governor of Massachusetts, where he served until April of 2001, completing 31 years as an elected official in his home state.

Ambassador Cellucci received his law degree from Boston College Law School in 1973. In 1970, he graduated from the Boston College School of Management where he served in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1970 until1978, when he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.

Both natives of Massachusetts, Ambassador Cellucci and his wife, Jan, have two daughters, Kate, a seventh grade science teacher and Anne, who works in video production and is married to Calgarian Craig Adams.