DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa's longest-serving governor and former U.S. Ambassador to China is home.
“We bought a house in Johnston, and we’re retired. I want to stay involved in the community and certainly I’m excited to be back in Iowa” says Ambassador Terry Branstad.
He tells WHO and WMT Radio’s “The Big Show” his family got some of their personal possessions from China three months after he left the country.
“The came on a slow boat from China--three months, and we just got it. Now we’re in the process of unpacking, purchasing furniture, and getting settled” Branstad says.
Branstad says that among those recently reclaimed possessions--an ice cream maker his wife, Christine, used when they hosted dinners in Beijing.
“Because we couldn’t get good ice cream in China, she bought an ice cream maker. She makes the best homemade ice cream that we served at the residence” Branstad says.
Terry Branstad was Iowa’s governor from 1983 to 1999, and again from 2011 to 2017--making him the longest-serving governor in U.S. history.
President Donald Trump selected him to be the U.S Ambassador to China in 2017, a post he held until 2020.