Evening star., 1952-09-07
By Dovid Lee

ISTANBUL, (ONA). - Last
weeks feat of United States Am.
bassador to Turkey. George Nc
Ghee, Mrs. McGhee and two little
McGhees in swimming the Bos-
phorus was not nearly so surprising
to the Turks as 1t was to those ir
this country who read front page
stories of the event.
For Turkey has come to expect
the unusual of the rolicking Nc
Ghee tribe-Texas oil millionaire
George Crews McGhee, his wife
Cecilia Jeanne de Golyer-voteo
lone Of the ten best-dresse6
women of 1951"-and the five
little McGhees. Since their arrival
here last January they have be-
come the most talked about, most
popular foreign ambaSsadoria'
family ever In Turkey.
Circus Visit Mode Front Poee
Their every move is faithfully
recorded in the Turkish press
Even their visit to the circus was
front page news-a most unusual
news item for a Turkish news
paper.
The Turks are not used to mil
lionaire ambassadors who work fol
the fun of it; ambassadors at the
youthful age of 40, ambassadors
with five noisy, newsy children
much less ambassadors wives as
photogenic as movie stars and
better dressed.
The McGhees, all seven of them
add up to one big packet Of genial
Turkish-American relations.
With the Turks the most anti
Communist nation touching Soviet
Russia, the popularity Of the Nc
Ghees is good news to the State
Department.
Whatever new crisis may break
in the rest Of the explosive Mid
East, Turkey remains staunchly
pro- Western. And for this. the
McGhees help more than q little
Live in White House
The McGhees normally live in
a spacious 20-roomed white resi-
dence (Which the Turks, of course
call the White House,, with pill
Jared portico, on a hillside over
looking the capital of Ankara
Next door neighbor, on the hilltop
is the Turkish President, Celal
Bayar.
At present. however, Mrs. Nc
Ghee and the children are living
in a picturesque, atwood. old
world Turkish "yali," a waterside
villa on the Asiatic shore of the
Bosphorus, half way up towards
the Black Sea. Last weeks his
toric half-mile swim took place
right at that spot, with observers
able to see the entire swim from
the front porch of the villa.
Although the Bosphorus flows
past the porch, and travel to and
from is by motor launch, none of
the young McGhees-Cecilia, un-
der 2: Marcia. IL; George, 9;
Dorothy, z, or Michael, HAS yet
managed to fall in. but there have
been some narrow escapes.
Ambassador McGhee commutes
between Ankara and the summer
capital, Istanbul, a round distance
OF 600 miles. some three times a
week usually with a VIP in tow,
ranging from Admiral Robert B.
Carney to Mrs. Anna Rosenberg.
Big drawback to "yali'' life is
the Bosphorus fishermen, who with
glaring arc lamps and endless
shouts fish all night long outside
the front door.
Marketing Headaches
Mrs. McGhee's only other real
worry about life in Turkey-apart
from trying to bring up a family
of five in a house always full of
|VIPs-is marketing.
At first she went to the bazaar
herself. But the bazaar mer-
chants soon learned who she was
land up went the prices. So she
sent a secretary. The word soon
went around about her. Now she
has an agent.
But now they're wise to the
|agent. I'll have to get me a sub
|agent."
Mrs. McGhee still insists that
she won the New York Dress In