From The Managing Editor: Feb. 1, 1993

LAST THURSDAY, THE FIRST FULL DAY OF BILL CLINTON'S presidency, Strobe Talbott found himself at a strange juncture: in the lobby of the State Department, speaking from the pay phone he had used for years to file stories to TIME. But now he was on his own turf. Two days earlier, Clinton had nominated him to be ambassador at large and special adviser to the Secretary of State on the new independent states, a position in which he will help formulate and carry out the Administration's policy toward the former Soviet Union.

Strobe had crossed over to the other side after...