FROM AMAZON: Bernard Packer, Philadelphian, graduated Central High in !952. After service in the U.S, Air Force Packer attended West Point for one year, was 'recognized' after this 'Plebe' year. He then studied Spanish at the National University of Mexico, and eventually earned a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from U.C.L.A. Hoping to see the world before settling down to any stodgy career, Packer has been a factory worker, core maker, school teacher, merchant seamen. deckhand on Swedish vessels sailing up the Orinoco and Congo Rivers, reaching ports in forty-five countries, including Gdansk and Russian oil depots on the Black Sea during the more frigid days of the Cold War. In the Sixties Packer was a simultaneous interpreter employed by the U.S. government in cultural exchange programs to escort foreign V.I.P's on coast to coast tours of the United States. He participated in 85 of these junkets, but probably his most notable moment as an interpreter came when he was chosen to translate for the Chilean Dictator, Pinochet, at the White House Dinner where President Carter handed over the Canal to Panama.