Official Review
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1. Tell us a bit about you.
Born in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, 1937.
Attended public schools in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and graduated from the Ponca City High School with Scholarship Pin, 1955.
Assistant to U.S. Senator A. S. (Mike) Monroney (D-OK), 1956-1963.
Attended the George Washington University, Washington, DC, earning AA and BA degrees "With Distinction" (Phi Beta Kappa [scholastic honorary fraternity]; Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Scholar [Washington Post]; Delta Sigma Rho [speech and debate honorary fraternity]; GWU Debate Team; Rhodes Scholar Nominee; Joshua Evans III Memorial Award [political and social sciences]), 1959.
Attended the George Washington University Law School, earning the JD degree "With Honors" (Order of the Coif,; Associate Editor and contributing author for The George Washington Law Review; Outstanding Graduate of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity), 1963.
Service to the rank of Captain, U.S. Army, 1963-1967; Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, Chief of Military Justice, and Trial Observer for trials of U.S. personnel in German courts under the Status of Forces Agreement, 4th Armored Division in Germany, 1963-66 (awarded the Army Commendation Medal and the National Defense Service Medal), 1963-66. Appellate Defense Counsel, Office of The Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army, (awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster to the Army Commendation Medal), 1966-67.
Washington, D.C., law practice 1967-90: Clifford & Warnke, 1967-83 [general partner and member of the Management Committee, 1973-83]); Stovall & Spradlin, [managing partner]), 1983-90; practice concentrating on corporate, administrative, international, lobbying, antitrust, environmental, and federal appellate matters. Admitted to the Bars of: State of Tennessee; District of Columbia; Commonwealth of Virginia; United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; United States Court of Federal Claims; United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits; United States Supreme Court.
Owner/Operator of Gandhara Farm and Racing Stable in Montgomery County, Maryland, 1973-1990, standing the multiple-stakes-winning Thoroughbred stallion, Sculptor (PAK 1970). Executive Director & General Counsel of Nigerian/American Associates, an international trading and consulting company based in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, and conducting operations across West and North-West Africa, including activities in the First Liberian Civil War (1990-94) - (NAA's activities in Africa were suspended in March 1994 due to aftereffects of the Abacha military coup in November 1993, overthrowing the Interim National Civilian Government of Nigeria).
Vice President & General Counsel of Patriot Petroleum Corporation based in Houston, Texas, working in a joint venture with Chevron Corporation, exploring for non-conventional natural gas deposits in the Devonian Shale deposits of East Tennessee, 1994-1996.
Vice President for Administration and Executive Assistant to the President of the HBCU, Knoxville College, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1997-2004.
Private practice of law (primarily appellate advocacy, brief writing, and pro bono work), 2004-present.
Author of the book, "Quest: Finding Freddie," Dorrance Publishing Co. (www.dorrancebookstore.com). The book is set in the international political turmoil of 1976 Africa. Copyright © 2022. Release date, March 30, 2023.
Married to Javene Annette Black, M.A., University of Stuttgart, formerly Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University's German campus and HR executive of the California Endowment.
2. How has writing changed your life?
After decades of practicing law, including the writing of hundreds of appellate briefs for myself and for other attorneys, I find that writing for the simple joy of self-expression is not only enjoyable but also cathartic.
3. Let's discuss your book, Quest: Finding Freddie. Can you give us a quick synopsis?
Quest: Finding Freddie is the narrative of a case that I had in 1976 as a General Partner in the Washington, DC, law firm of Clifford & Warnke. It concerns the search for one of my firm's clients (known to his wife and friends as "Freddie") who had suddenly "gone missing" in Lagos, Nigeria. A devout Jew, Freddie had simply disappeared on Saturday, August 14, 1976 (the Jewish Sabbath) while on a business trip to Nigeria. His disappearance was particularly disturbing since it occurred not long after the June 27, 1976, rescue by Israel Defense Forces of hostages being held by terrorists at the Entebbe airport in Uganda.
As spectacular and heroic as the Entebbe rescue mission had been, it had caused extreme embarrassment for Uganda's President, Idi Amin Dada Oumee, who was serving at the time as Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). As a result, Idi Amin began fomenting anti-Semitic sentiment throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, the political situation was even more uncertain due to tensions following an attempted military coup that had taken place on February 13, 1976. Although that coup failed, it nonetheless resulted in the assassination of Nigeria's Head of State, General Murtala Rufai Ramat Muhammed. It was against this background that I was sent by my law firm on the quest to find Freddie.
I had then recently traveled to Nigeria for a client who was owed demurrage payments on a shipload of cement ordered by the country's military government. However, that trip had been pursuant to a single-entry visa. Since time was obviously of the essence in trying to find and rescue the missing client, there was no time to secure a new visa through regular means. I therefore had to rely on the local attorney with whom I had worked on the demurrage case to seek an emergency visa and have it available for me when I arrived in Lagos. That proved to be more difficult than expected because of tensions following the recent attempted coup d'état in Nigeria. As a result, I was arrested on arrival at the airport and spent several "uncomfortable" hours in police confinement – "locked up abroad" as the saying goes.
In such situations, one usually looks for help from the appropriate local embassy personnel. That was not possible in this case. The book's principal character, "Freddie," was a Swedish national who had lived in the United States for some 30 years. His wife, Ruth, was a US citizen, and "Freddie" maintained permanent resident status in the United States. The US State Department declined to offer any assistance with regard to his disappearance due to his Swedish citizenship. Similarly, the Swedish authorities took the position that, because "Freddie" had been a permanent resident of the United States for three decades and had no connection with Sweden other than to maintain and renew his passports, they owed him no special allegiance.
There are eleven major characters in the story in addition to me as the author:
a. Frederick David Nachman ("Freddie" to his family and friends) was President and Chief Executive Officer of Nachman International Trading Corporation (NITC).
b. Ruth Nachman, "Freddie's" wife, was Vice President and Treasurer of NITC.
c. Clark M. Clifford, Senior Partner of the law firm Clifford & Warnke.
d. Peter J. C. A. Johnson, Esq., an Oxford-educated barrister and the son of an English father and a Mandingo mother. He was my Nigerian co-counsel on the case.
e. A'isha Danjuma, the daughter of a Hausa chief, was Peter Johnson's Secretary and Administrative Assistant.
f. Bosede Ademola, a Yoruba who had been a Sergeant for the Nigerian Army in the Nigerian Civil War (sometimes referred to as "the Biafran War"), was the bodyguard and chauffeur for Peter Johnson.
g. Chima Onuwa, an Igbo who had been a soldier in the Biafran Army, was my driver and assistant in the search for "Freddie."
h. Nwanda Kanu, a young Igbo woman from Port Harcourt, who had been kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery on her arrival in Lagos and happened to witness "Freddie's" abduction on the street outside his hotel.
i. Fred Okoye, Esq., an Oxford educated Nigerian barrister who was legal counsel to the General who was the commander of the National Security Organization (NSO) of Nigeria.
j. Miriam Larsson, the Receptionist at Embassy of Sweden in Lagos, who provided some confidential information which related to "Freddie's" disappearance.
k. And finally, an anonymous Colonel of the National Security Organization who figured prominently in the story.
4. Why did you decide to write a book about your time in Lagos?
I was rummaging through my storage locker some time ago and came across a banker box containing my personal file on the case described in the book. The storage box bore a single title – "FREDDIE." After reviewing the file, and given the passage of time, I decided that it might be appropriate to write the story as a personal memoir. The personal file I found in storage contained Day-Timer pages, Nigerian newspapers, magazines, reference books, copies of my expense account on the case with receipts, and daily hand-written memoranda I had composed each night while working on the case. With all of that detailed material, it was a simple task simply to start at the beginning and recall the story in great detail day by day. As a result, the book is an accurate account of the events therein described. The only changes I made were to change the names of four of the principal characters to protect their privacy. All four of those changes are noted and explained in footnotes. As for the book's title, after Clark M. Clifford, the senior partner of my law firm, had given me the assignment of trying to find our firm's missing client in Nigeria, the final words he said to me as I was leaving his office were, "Good luck in your quest." When I saw that in my notes, I decided that I had a title for the book.
I was selected for the task of attempting to find our missing client because I had just returned from Nigeria on a case for another of my firm's clients. That other case had involved a claim for demurrage payments on a shipload of cement ordered by the Nigerian government. Since I was the only partner in my law firm who had been to Nigeria and had personal contacts in that country, it was only reasonable that I would be the one to go there in search of our missing client.
5. Was it difficult for you to write about this time? Did you find it rewarding?
Given the great amount of detail I found in the file retrieved from storage, the writing was not difficult. Also, I found it cathartic to write this memoir.
6. What did you learn while writing?
While writing this book, I learned that there had been more risk involved in searching for my firm's missing client than I had appreciated at the time.
7. What did you find to be the biggest culture shock during your time in Lagos?
The biggest culture shock for me during my time in Lagos was the realization of how common the scourge of sexual slavery had become in the country.
8. What's next for you?
I am now writing a sequel to Quest: Finding Freddie. It is entitled Liberia: Cry Havoc," and concerns the First Liberian Civil War in which I became involved in 1992 as Executive Director of Nigerian-American Associates, Ltd.
In its documentary, The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia, Viceland Television (formerly History International) gave this description of the conflict:
"This is like civil war on steroids, a post-apocalyptic Armageddon with child soldiers smoking heroin, cross-dressing cannibals, and systematic rape. It's total Hell on earth."
This horribly violent paroxysm of mass murder, torture, mutilation, rape, slavery, child abuse, terror, devastation, looting, robbery, extortion, and cannibalism occurred in a small country with a population of only about 2 million people in 1989 when civil war began.
9. What was your favorite meal from your time out of the country?
My favorite meal would have to be that elegant and very expensive meal ordered by Attorney Okoye at the Grosvenor Hotel as described on page 233 of the book.
10. What's one skill or hobby that you've never learned that you'd like to?
Skydiving.
11. What historical person would you most want to meet?
Nelson Mandela.
12. What advice would you give someone who wants to write?
First, obtain and study a copy of The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White. Next, keep that book close at hand for reference as you write.
