HUNGARY COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Kingsley W. Hamilton 1937-1938 Rotation Officer, Buda est James Cowles Hart Bonbright 1941-1942 Consular Officer, Buda est James McCargar 1946-1947 Vice Consul, Buda est Jordan Thomas Rogers 19,4-19,8 Economic.Political Officer, Buda est 0. 1ouglas Martin 19,6 Hungarian 1es2 Officer, Washington, 1C Horace 3. Torbert 1961-1962 Charg4 d5Affaires, Buda est John Richardson, Jr. 1961-1968 President, National Committee for a 8ree Euro e, New 9or2 Alfred Puhan 1969-1973 Ambassador, Hungary Alan Hardy 1970-1978 Political Officer, Buda est Robert B. Morley 1971-1973 Polish, Czechoslova2ia, and Hungary 1es2 Officer, Washington, 1C 1onald B. Kursch 1971-197, Consular.Economic Officer, Buda est Keith C. 0mith 1973-1976 Political Officer, Buda est 0te hen H. 1achi 1973-1977 Public Affairs Office, U0I0, Buda est Phili M. Kaiser 1977-1980 Ambassador, Hungary 3. Jonathan 3reenwald 1982-1984 Political Counselor, Buda est Keith C. 0mith 1983-1986 1e uty Chief of Mission, Buda est Nicholas M. 0algo 1983-1986 Ambassador, Hungary 1onald B. Kursch 1986-1990 1e uty Chief of Mission, Buda est Robie M.H. ?Mar2” Palmer 1986-1990 Ambassador, Hungary Nadia Tongour 1987-1988 Hungarian 1es2 Officer, Washington, 1C Robert E. McCarthy 1988-1992 Public Affairs Officer, U0I0, Buda est Aawrence Cohen 1991-1994 Environment, 0cience and Technology Attach4, Buda est Aynne Aambert 1997-1998 1e uty Chief of Mission, Buda est Charlotte Row 1997-1999 Environment and 0cience Attach4, Buda est KINGSLEY W. HAMILTON Rotation Officer B dapest (1937-1938) Kingsley W. Hamilton was born in 1911 to Presbyterian missionaries in the Philippines. He attended high school in China, the Philippines and Ohio. He graduated from the College of Wooster in 19 . One of his favorite history professors topics on world history influenced his interest in international affairs. This led him to graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and his taking the Foreign Service E)am. He has also served in Hungary and Switzerland. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy on December 9, 1994. BC So obviously you passed. How did the system in 19 , work- We.re still in the depression, government is beginning to e)pand, but the /nited States is not a ma0or player in the world in a way. Here you are a young guy just out of college, how did they absorb you into the Foreign Service- HAMIATONC Well, they sent everyone right out to a post. I went to Buda est. 0ome of the officers at those posts were very good at hel ing young officers. I was rotated through several fields of activity-- ass orts and hel to American citizens, visas, and economic re orting. BC 1ou went to Budapest and you were there from 19 , to . 8, this is normal. Did we have a Legation- HAMIATONC A Aegation at that time. BC Who was the minister- HAMIATONC I forget his first name, DJohn 8lournoyE Montgomery was his last name, a political a ointee. BC What was he like- HAMIATONC Very ca able, a pleasant man. The office ran smoothly--than2s in good measure to Howard K. Travers, 8irst 0ecretary and Consul--and he seemed to get along well with the Hungarians. 0ince he did not care for o era or concerts, one of my jobs--a most pleasant one-- was escorting Mrs. Montgomery to them. BC What was the situation in Hungary in those days- HAMIATONC Well, it was a dictatorshi , a benevolent dictatorshi . Admiral Horthy was in charge, he was relatively mild. Things ran smoothly. Everything was in order and peo le seemed content. As far as normal living was concerned, there were no problems. It was a very pleasant life. The Hungarians were a friendly peo le, at least those in Buda est, the ones I had the most contact with. BC What was our Legation doing in those days- What was the main interest- HAMIATONC Well, I donGt 2now that it had any s ecial interest. Of course I didnGt get into that. Although I moved around in various assignments for a few months, it was all really on the consular side. I did some economic re orting, but I never got into any of the political wor2. As far as I could tell, the Aegation was concentrating on 2ee ing Washington informed of whatever of interest was going on. I was not aware of anything s ecial. BC Was the news from 4ermany and Hitler who was consolidating his power, and consolidating part of 4ermany, was this a sub0ect of much speculation or interest- HAMIATONC It didnGt seem to be. Hitler moved into Austria just after I left to come bac2 to the 8oreign 0ervice 0chool. I thin2 it too2 everybody by sur rise. When I went through Vienna for a few days on the way bac2 to Washington there didnGt seem to be any feeling of an im ending 3erman move. ,AMES COWLES HART BONBRIGHT Cons lar Officer B dapest (19.1-19.2) Ambassador James Cowles Hart Bonbright entered the Foreign Service in 192,. His career included positions in Ottawa, Washington, DC, Brussels, Belgrade, 2udapest, Paris, and an ambassadorship to Portugal. Ambassador Bonbright was interviewed by Peter Jessup in 1988. 9: 4ood morning, Ambassador Bonbright. 1ou were in 2udapest, I think, when we last broke off--en route or there- BONBRI3HTC I had got there by car with Ray Broc2 a few days before. The boat which we had arranged to charter to pic2 u our peo le in Belgrade too2 off on the night of May 13 down river and pic2ed everyone u and started bac2 u again on the 18th, arriving on the 23rd. Most of the others, including the Aanes, stayed in Buda est for a few days and then went off in different directions. 0ybil and I settled in. The legation was in the hands of Mr. Herbert Claiborne Pell at that time. He had previously been minister to Portugal and had only just presented his letters of credence in Buda est. 9: The father of Senator Pell- BONBRI3HTC He was the father of Claiborne Pell, who was still at that time a young 8oreign 0ervice officer, but he was proved correct, because as of this day heGs still a United 0tates 0enator from Rhode Island and a rather senior one at that. Mr. Pell was 2nown around the legation privately as HThe Vanishing American.H This was only partly due to the fact that he had a rather large shaggy head and loo2ed a little li2e an American bison, but he was a nice man, a good man, but seemed to be Iuite oblivious to what was going on in the world around him at that time. 9: By "vanishing American," you meant an American of an ancient breed- BONBRI3HTC Ai2e the bison, yes. 8or instance, his daily staff meetings were Iuite incredible. It seemed to me, just having come from two countries overrun by war, we would sit around the table while he would give a little tal2 on some subFect of no relevance. I remember one articularly he gave on the history of the old 8rench coin, the Aouis dGOr. In any other place or time, it might have been Iuite interesting, but for those of us having to sit there at that time, it made us restive. The number two was a man named Howard Travers, 2nown as HPurse.H His main interest was in the administrative fieldJ in fact, he was overline (sicL Das aE consular officer. I guess this is my day to say catty remar2s, but he used to remind me of the old adage that Hyou canGt ma2e a sil2 urse out of a sowGs ear.H We 2e t that very Iuiet, because one of our officers who had been there the time before got into Iuite bad trouble by being a little too o en in his comments. He was serving under a Mr. Montgomery, who made his fortune out of Carnation Mil2, and this officer used to go around saying, HAll I have I owe to Mutters.GH Of course, this was too good to not s read around, and it eventually got bac2 to Mr. Montgomery himself, and our friend was Iuic2ly recalled and, actually, it pretty well ended his career. He never got over it. 0o much for li2ing to wisecrac2 too much. The neNt man in the office was Bill 0chott, who did the political re orting. 9: 1ou had stayed with them en route to Belgrade. BONBRI3HTC 9es. We had 2nown them before briefly, and theyGre a very nice cou le and good friends while we were there. Incidentally, he was the only one in the grou who could s ea2 any Hungarian and, at that, not very much. All I remember, though, was that he too2 lessons from one of the most beautiful Hungarian girls you ever would lay your eyes on. 9: To digress for a moment, of all the countries you.d been in before that and since, wasn.t there a plethora of stunning-looking Hungarian women- BONBRI3HTC They seemed to me to have more than their share, very, very good-loo2ing and very attractive, plus theyGre all wonderful linguists, which comes from living in a country with seven or eight borders with different countries and being overrun in war for centuries. The Poles have the same gift, I thin2, in languageJ they all can s ea2 with great ease and fluency. 9: For the record, would you define the Balkans- Are the Balkans only Bulgaria, 1ugoslavia, and so forth- They don.t include Hungary and Czechoslovakia, do they- What are the Balkans- BONBRI3HTC In my thoughts and the way the geogra hical divisions in the 0tate 1e artment went, we considered Hungary as part of it.