I was in government as a very young man, in the diplomatic service of Mexico when I was in my early twenties. Then, with the success of my first novel, Where the Air is Clear, in 1958, I left the bureaucracy, and I did not come back until the 1970s, when I was Ambassador to France for a couple of years. That’s it. I have been offered, by other presidents “nearer-to-us” posts as ambassador, but I have always refused them, because I know from my experience that I am unhappy in diplomatic and governmental posts. I am happy when I am a free agent, writing what I like.