Young, Johnny
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR JOHNNY YOUNG Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: October 21, 2005 Copyright 200 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Sa annah, Georgia; raised in Sa annah, Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE. Ku Klu( Klan Schooling Black gospel tradition Segregation Li ing en ironment Temple Uni ersity Marriage American Uni ersity of Beirut ,onference Entered the Foreign Ser ice in 19.7 Tananari e, Madagascar; Budget and Fiscal Officer 19.7019.9 Loss of classified pouch Political situation 1elations En ironment Ethnic groups State Department; FS2; Administration3French language training 19.901970 ,onakry, Guinea; General Ser ices Officer 197001972 En ironment French Ambassador Bud Sherer Go ernment President Sekou Toure Attempted coup Arrest So iets Lebanese assistant 1eporting 1 Ethnic tribes Family Nairobi, Kenya; Super isory General Ser ices Officer 197201978 En ironment Meeting of 2MF and World Bank US Ambassadors Go ernment 9omo Kenyatta Doha, :atar; Administrati e Officer and D,M 19780 1977 ,reating an embassy from scratch En ironment Economy Staffing the Embassy ,ommunications Local de elopment Local staff Ambassador Paganelli Students to American uni ersities :atar foreign relations OPE, 2ran Al0Thani ruling family Georgetown, Barbados; Administrati e Officer 197701979 Grenada British royal family isits En ironment State Department; Office of Personnel Management 197901981 Housing Health issues Assignment problems Family State Department; E(ecuti e Director, Office of 2nspector General 198101983 Officer selection process Duties of office Bidding for assignments Amman, 9ordan; ,ounselor for Administration 198301985 1elations King Hussein Personnel problems US Ambassadors 2 Security issues New embassy building En ironment ,omments on embassy officers The Hague, Netherlands; ,ounselor for Administration 198501988 ,ruise Missile deployment issue Ambassador 9erry Bremer Security Terrorist alert ,onsulate 1otterdam closed En ironment US Ambassadors Senior Seminar 198801989 ,ourse content US study tour ,atholic ,hurch U.S Ambassador to Sierra Leone 198901992 Elections 1utite production Stability Family South ,arolina relationship En ironment 2n asion of Liberia ,harles Taylor E acuation from Liberia 1elations Economy Kuwait Lack of US assistance Peace ,orps Economic ,ommunity of West Africa (E,OWAS) ,oalition Aisit of 9,S ,hief of Staff ,olin Powell Washington iew on inter ention Marine Amphibious 1eady Group (MA1G) 1ebels enter Sierra Leone Embassy e acuation to Senegal Working with the new go ernment State Department; Director of ,areer De elopment and Assignments 199201998 Filling the posts 1ecruitment of minorities 3 Se(ual harassment Senior Personnel Political inter ention in assignments US Ambassador to Togo 199801997 1elations President Gnassingbe Eyadema En ironment French US interests Go ernment Security Lawlessness Military US Public Affairs Program US Ambassador to Bahrain 199702001 En ironment US Na al presence (,OM2DEASTFO1 1egional territorial disputes Al Khalifa family US military aircraft Aisit of Madeleine Albright Bahrain and 2raB war Defense department isits Death of Sheik 2sa Go ernment EmirCs isit to USA 1egional security 9311 World Trade ,enter attack Elections Shia and 2ran Diplomatic courier death in plane crash US Ambassador to Slo enia 200102008 ,onfirmation hearing Swearing in ceremony 1eturn of or compensation for confiscated US property 2ntellectual property NATO membership Economy Pharmaceuticals Traffic in persons European Union candidacy 1elations with neighbors 1eligion 8 2raB War issues US treatment of allies Public 1elations programs State Department; Office of the 2nspector General 200802005 2raB Mission staff study 2nspections 1etirement 2005 INTERVIEW $Note: This interview was not edited by Ambassador Young( ): Today is the 21st of October, 2005. This is an interview with Ambassador Johnny Young. That-s J.O./.N.N.Y and then Y.O.0.N.1. Let-s start at the beginning. Could you tell me when and where you were born3 DOUNGE 2 was born in Sa annah, Georgia on February .th, 1980. ): O4ay. Let-s tal4 about your parents first. Can you tell me about your father-s side first3 DOUNGE Well, on my fatherCs side he was one of 11 children. There were two sisters and 9 boys. One sister figures Buite significantly in my life and 2Cll e(plain that in a minute or two. On my motherCs side she was one of three. There was a sister and a brother in addition to my mother. Both of my parents were poor folks. They had nothing. We li ed in an e(tended family relationship with my grandmother and my mother and father and some other uncles and their children. We li ed in one big house, cramped in a couple or se eral rooms. Now, 2 had mentioned an aunt who figured significantly in my life. Shortly after my birth my mother became ill and realiFed later on that she was terminally ill. She had heart problems, being a black woman in the South, 27 years old at that time, she didnCt ha e access to good medical care and good doctors so that was a factor. 2 mean we realiFe it now in retrospect. 2n any case she turned to my sister0in0law, my fatherCs sister, one of the sisters. The oldest sister and she asked her if she would take me upon her death and raise me and thatCs e(actly what happened when 2 was 11 months old. My mother died and this aunt took me, her name was Lucille, Lucille Pressey. ): How do you spell that3 DOUNGE P010E0S0S0E0D. She took me and she took my sister, Loretta, L0O010E0T0T0A, and she raised the two of us. Another sister by the name of Lottie, 5 L0O0T0T020E, was taken by the aunt of my mother, sorry by the sister of my mother and she had already mo ed to New Dork. This aunt raised me and she was the only mother that 2 knew. My father was with us, but he was a sometimes father. He was here, he was there. He had his friends and his life and what ha e you so 2 didnCt ha e the kind of fatherly support that 2 would ha e liked. ): Did you grow up in Savannah3 DOUNGE We stayed in Sa annah until 2 was se en years old. 2 was baptiFed as a ,atholic. My sister and 2 were baptiFed as ,atholics in Sa annah. ThereCs a story to that as well. This aunt, the one who raised me, found herself at a low point in her life in the G30s when things were pretty bad economically and she was hired as a domestic by the ,athedral of Saint 9ohn the Baptist in Sa annah, Georgia and she began cleaning the cathedral and the rectory for the priests there. They took a liking to her and they asked her if she could cook and she said yes, so she became their cook and in the process they con erted her to ,atholicism and she in turn con erted a number of her brothers to ,atholicism. By the time 2 came along it was just natural that 2 would be baptiFed a ,atholic, so thatCs how 2 became ,atholic. ): Yes, because one thin4s of in the deep South it certainly was in the African American community you thin4 of Baptists. DOUNGE Baptists, absolutely. There was no Buestion about that so 2 became a ,atholic. 2 started ,atholic school there as a matter of fact. 2t turned out to be the same school as ,larence Thomas went to, but 2 donCt want to get into that at all since we are at opposite ends of the spectrum philosophically. ): He-s a very conservative. DOUNGE And 2Cm a knee jerk liberal. So, thatCs all 2Cll say to that. ): Had your family been a long time Savannah family or not3 DOUNGE No, they originally came from one of the Sea 2slands and that will be significant later on. They were from an island called Ladies 2sland and from Ladies 2sland the family then migrated. This is all on my fatherCs side now and they then migrated to Beaufort, South ,arolina and from Beaufort, South ,arolina to Sa annah, Georgia. 2 started school there, my sister and 2. We continued school there and then one day in 9uly of 1987 my mother, my Aunt Lucille, came to us and said weCre going north. 2 learned later that the nuns at the cathedral and at Saint BenedictCs ,hurch had gi en her money. 2t was a nun, the Mother Superior and her name was Mother Blondena. She ga e my mother the money and said, take these children North because thereCs no opportunity for them in the South. That was in 1987 in 9une, early 9uly. On 9uly 3rd, 1987 we took a train called the Sil er Meteor which still runs to this day. We boarded it in Sa annah and we carried with us our little shoe bo(es of fried chicken and biscuits and 2 donCt know what else we had in there. 2 thought this was the most e(citing thing that 2 had e er done . in my life. 2 had ne er been on a train and to think that 2 was going to go for such a long, long ride. 2 was just mesmeriFed by the whole thing, seeing the passing images of buildings and factories and things like that. This was really Buite something for a boy who had come out of really nothing. We had nothing. We were as poor as can be. Then we were on our way North and with it to a new life. 2 would like to go back for a moment to say that those early years in the South, as poor as we were, were happy years for me.