Cyrus Vance went to Washington insisting he would travel abroad only rarely as Secretary of State, a comment that led Henry Kissinger to wisecrack to the correspondents who regularly roamed the world with him: "You guys are going to miss me. The only shuttle you're going to see from now on is between Washington and New York."

Not so. To date Vance has logged some 180,000 miles as Secretary of State, and with him nearly all the way has been either TIME's Diplomatic Correspondent Strobe Talbott or State Department Correspondent Christopher Ogden, who had an exclusive interview with Secretary Vance before his latest trip (see NATION). When Vance took off for Africa, Talbott went along. Senior Writer Ed Magnuson used the extensive files from Ogden and Talbott for this week's cover story assessing the Secretary and his record.

Covering Vance is quite a different task from following Kissinger. Talbott remembers how much Kissinger liked holding airborne seminars for reporters and taking them into his confidence. He even enjoyed arguing with correspondents. At other times, recalls Ogden, "Kissinger would come to the back of the plane, perch on your armrest, pick cocktail nuts off your tray and tell outrageous and fascinating stories about officials he dealt with--all off the record, of course."

The Vance style is quieter. While stringent, his security arrangements are lower-keyed than Kissinger's. The former Secretary used to fly his armored limousine around the world; Vance rides in the local ambassador's car. Dealing with the press, Vance is more reserved than Kissinger was, rarely holding discussions from a plane-seat armrest. He prefers formal briefings, does not treat reporters as cronies and does not like to gossip. Still, there are signs that his style is becoming more relaxed as he gets to know the dozen or so correspondents who are steadily assigned to him and cover the State Department. Occasionally his aides will talk Vance into meeting with the press late at night, and the sessions often show the Secretary at his best--exhilarated at the end of a long day, laughing at the cracks of reporters and updating them on the day's events. Almost always , on hand: Talbott or Ogden.

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