By TOM SMITH

LAST Tuesday, the US Senate confirmed the appointment of Hershel Walker as the next American ambassador to The Bahamas.

“Well, that was a relief,” said a prominent Bahamian with close ties to business and politics in the US. “An awful lot of people took as an insult the fact that there has been no American ambassador in residence here for over 14 years! Now look, I understand there were special circumstances, and that the US did not mean this as any slight to us. I’m just saying, thank God Mr Walker is coming! It’s way past time.”

When US president Donald Trump announced his nomination of Walker, a writer to this newspaper said “this nomination bodes well for our wonderful nation. Trump is sending a very strong signal to The Bahamas that despite the occasional flare ups, he and the American people continue to have an unbreakable bond with The Bahamas”.

In welcoming the new American envoy, let’s offer a bit of an introduction in the form of some things he might expect here.

First, the new ambassador is going to be welcomed, wholeheartedly and enthusiastically. He is somebody – this man was one of the greatest football players in American history. He has remained a public figure, and ran for the US Senate just a few years ago. We like celebrities here, and it is a point of pride for many that many Hollywood and music stars have bought or built homes in The Bahamas.

Frequent athletic visitors and investors have included NBA superheroes Michael Jordan and LeBron James. We enjoy the star power of our illustrious adoptees.

The soft-spoken, often unassuming manner Walker displayed while campaigning for the US Senate in his home state of Georgia in 2022 will serve him well here. And it would be good if, as he gets settled into this new job, he can lend his prestige in support of one or more of the very worthy organizations hard at work in The Bahamas to aid those most in need of assistance.

Second, our new ambassador will lead one of the 25 or so largest US missions anywhere in the world. He will be a spokesman and representative of the numerous American law enforcement, customs, immigration, military and other agencies represented in the imposing new embassy building. There is US presence in several islands outside New Providence, notably in Grand Bahama.

Ambassador Walker is the head of the US mission in The Bahamas. The agencies operating here do so under his authority. But they are led by capable, independent-minded patriots who are experienced in their specialties. Many of them report also to bosses in Florida, Washington and elsewhere. Knitting together such an imposing collection of officials can be challenging, but success in this area is certainly achievable and even to be expected.

Third, the ambassador will be seen by everyone as the US representative here. His words and actions will count, and they will be noticed. We do not have a large diplomatic community in The Bahamas, but the British and the Chinese are here. The Canadians and the Cubans are represented. Some international organisations have offices here.

In his remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ambassador Walker mentioned the Chinese presence more than once. The Bahamas represent one of the arenas around the world where the critical US-China relationship plays out in a comparatively uncluttered environment. We’ll all be watching.

The term ‘good will ambassador’ might be overused, but in some respects, our new ambassador will serve that role, and there’s a good chance that he will do it well. His exploits and achievements are well-known. He’s in a good spot to succeed.

The US maintains over 250 embassies and consulates all around the world, a number second only to the overseas representations of China. At the great majority of those diplomatic and consular missions, routine business is conducted mostly out of the headlines and in businesslike fashion. Nothing particularly special or spectacular.

Here in The Bahamas, the US maintains a large presence, driven by factors such as various aspects of bilateral and even multilateral law enforcement cooperation and the millions of American tourists who visit us every year. Embassy staff handle routine matters in these areas.

However, during Ambassador Walker’s tenure here, history informs us that there may be a few occasions when circumstances oblige the US and The Bahamas to work closely, even urgently, to address exigencies that may occur.

Maybe a hurricane like Dorian changes course at the last moment and decides to visit us. We all know all too well the devastation and damage that one of these meteorological monsters can inflict.

Maybe a crisis in Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba or elsewhere in our region provokes a sudden exodus of refugees hoping to reach the United States, and their path leads them through our immense territorial waters. This will elicit in both Nassau and in Washington a sharp concern about the social and economic burdens of such an unexpected influx of desperate people.

Or maybe in halls of the multilateral bureaucracies in Brussels, Geneva, New York or Washington a concern arises about international banking or financial compliance, and a questioning finger is pointed in our direction.

On such exceptional occasions, we may need a US ambassador who can call his president to cut through all the bureaucracy and help us navigate a crisis.

We will soon have an ambassador whose 40-plus year association and friendship with US president Donald Trump tells us that Ambassador Walker will be able to pick up the phone and get the personal attention of an American chief executive who may be the most hands-on president since Franklyn Roosevelt.

Trump is, by his own account, frequently on the phone with friends discussing the issues and events of the day. His is a highly personalised presidency. Our new ambassador is one of those friends.

According to the public record, Ambassador Walker and president Trump became friends when Walker agreed to play for Trump’s New Jersey Generals team in the United States Football League in 1983. During the three years of USFL operation, Walker was dominant, as he had been in college.

After leading the University of Georgia to its first undisputed national collegiate football championship in 1980, he won the Heisman Trophy as America’s best college football player in 1983. A prodigiously accomplished running back, he was named to Sports Illustrated’s all-time All-America first team five years ago.

Ultimately, Walker wound up with the Dallas Cowboys after the USFL failed to force a merger with the all-powerful NFL, and quickly established himself as a Pro Bowl running back. In fact, his success in the NFL led directly to the largest trade in the history of the league, and by some accounts, the largest trade ever in any professional sports league.

The Cowboys, slogging to a 1-15 record in 1989, traded Walker and some lower draft choices to the Minnesota Vikings for a package that included three first-round and three second-round draft picks plus players and lower picks. Using those draft choices to select Hall of Famer and all-time rushing leader Emmitt Smith, several Pro Bowlers on defence and others, the Cowboys had improved so much that they appeared in and won three super bowl championships between 1993-96. The Cowboys have never approached that success in the thirty years since then.

Over the intervening years, Trump and Walker reportedly maintained a friendship. Three years ago, Trump endorsed Walker early in the US Senate campaign in Georgia, despite some reported concerns about Walker’s experience in public life and politics.

Trump’s endorsement boosted Walker to the GOP nomination, but he lost in the general election to incumbent Rev Raphael Warnock, who had won a special election for the seat in 2020 and who has been a pastor at Martin Luther King’s Atlanta church for twenty years.

America is the richest nation on earth. Their military and economic power remains unmatched. The Americans control resources beyond our imagination. Florida is on our doorstep. We are one of a small handful of nations that actually share a border with the United States.

If, when we need our ambassador to contact the US chief executive in an emergency, it looks like we may have the right man, and if Hershel Walker can do that, we should be satisfied and grateful.