Cheek, James R
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR JAMES RICHARD CHEEK Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial Interview Date: September 13, 2010 Copyright 2012 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Georgia, raised in Arkansas Racial segregation University of Arkansas; Arkansas State Teachers College (Re-named University of Central Arkansas)% American University US Army, ermany (195,-195-) .ashington, D.C.0 National 2ducation Association (12A) 1959-19-1 2ntered the Foreign Service in 19-1 3arriage Philip 4aiser State Department0 Foreign Service Institute0 Spanish 19-1-18-2 language study Santiago, Chile0 Rotation Officer 1982-1988 President 2duardo Frei 9ohn 9ova Strikes and violence 2conomy 2nvironment Political Parties Communists Alliance for Progress USAID Population Ambassador Charles Cole Allende London, 2ngland0 Consular/Political Officer 1988-19-- 3iddle 2ast, 2ast of Suez 9udy arland 1 Liaison with Foreign Office Vietnam Flags Over Vietnam Ambassador David Bruce Adlai Stevenson death Operations 9ack Vaughn Ditchley House Conference Congressional Delegations 9oan Auten Visas Charley ilbert Department of State0 Desk Officer, Newly Independent 19---19-7 British Colonies Countries covered Leeward and .indward Islands Cuba Puerto Rico British AAssociated StatesB Antigua Tracking Station US official recognition of States Barbados delegation British policy ambling casinos Puerto Rico independence USAID Labor Party Rio de 9aneiro, Brazil0 Deputy Director, Peace Corps 19-7-19-9 Circumstances of assignment Program Operations Housing overnment US Ambassadors Rio de 9aneiro0 Transportation and Communication Officer (TCO) 19-9-1971 Operations Ambassador .illiam Rountree Steven Lowe 2mbassy Brasilia Civil aviation overnment Brazilian diplomats State enterprises 2 Brazilian army 4ubitschek Human Rights Ambassador Burk 2lbrick kidnapping 4idnappings Human Rights Soviets 3anagua, Nicaragua0 Political Counselor 1971-197, Ambassador Turner and 3rs. Shelton Somozas, father and son Operations Reporting Rivkin (Dissent) Award Political opposition Peter 9oaCuin and Violeta Chamorro Secretary of State .illiam Rogers visit 2arthCuake devastation Rescuing staff 2mbassy destruction Rivkin Award for heroism 2isenhower/Somoza relationship 2arthCuake press coverage US 3ilitary cooperation Colonel Len Trost Secretary of State .illiam Rogers US earthCuake aid Somoza fall Sandinistas Bebe Rebozo Howard Hughes Personnel and dependent evacuation Shelton/Somoza relations Political and economic reporting Somozo/Cheek relations Congressman 9ack 3urphy 1icaragua National uard Ambassador 9ames Daniel Theberge Bryan-Chamorro Treaty (191-) Capitol Hill% Pearson Fellow 197,-1975 Fellowship description Operations Congressman David Obey Senator ary Hart 2valuation 8 American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Israel State Department0 Deputy Director, Near 2ast South Asia, 1975-1977 81-88 Regional Affairs 4issingerDs lobal Outlook Policy ( LOP) Roy Atherton US military and economic aid Israel 2gypt 9ordan Atherton/4issinger relationship SyriaDs Assad olan Heights Implementing peace agreement 3ontevideo, Uruguay0 Deputy Chief of 3ission 1977-1979 1ote0 Interview not completed INTERVIEW "Note: Ambassador Cheek died before this interview was completed.( ): This is a Foreign Affairs Oral History Program telephone interview with Ambassador .ames R. Cheek. Today is September 13, 2010. This interview is being conducted under the auspices of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. Ambassador Cheek, can you give us some personal background, where you were born, what0s hometown. CH2240 I was born in April 198- in Decatur, eorgia which at the time was in the county outside of Atlanta. It is really now almost downtown Atlanta. Atlanta just swallowed it up. ): 1hat do you know about your father2s side of the family3 CH2240 Not much because by the time I was born its was the worst part of the depression and shortly thereafter we moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, my motherDs hometown. 3y father had been an entertainer. He actually sang with 9ohn BarberDs band at one time, but bands all went broke, couldnDt get work during the depression. He would get some employment with traveling walk-a-thons. People would pay five cents or ten cents and stay all day and night watching these marathon dances. , ): There was a movie about that: They Shoot Horses Don2t They "1454( CH2240 Ees. He was one of the permanent cast members. They would entertain. He was kind of a song and dance man. He met my mother here in Little Rock while on the road. She was a young woman and they got married. He worked here some but it was hard to find work, so we went to AtlantaFto Decatur. They lived where his parents lived. His dad still had a job. He worked for the railroad. They moved in with them and then I was born there. 3y brother who was two years older was born in Little Rock. I had a sister born in Decatur, but in 1988 she passed away, very young. I was only two years old and my brother was four and then my sister was newborn. There my mom was. He had no insurance or anything. He had just been getting what work he could and unfortunately, he had never been able to get employment under Social Security which was brand new. .e had no benefits and all she could do was scrounge up the train fare to get us home to her mother here in Little Rock. .hen we left Decatur we came here (Little Rock) and we never really went back. .e went back for a visit once or twice when I was very young. .e pretty much lost contact with his family there. ): Obviously your mother2s side for you was far more important. 1hat do you know about them3 CH2240 They were from Arkansas. Her father had worked for the railroad but then he was gone a lot and he just sort of abandoned them, my mother and her mother. She had an older brother and a younger sister so my grandmother had to make do. There was no welfare, food stamps or anything. If you were hungry you worked. That was it. She made it and she lived here. 3y mother, fortunately all three of the children, managed to get a good high school education here in Little Rock. 3y mother had even learned secretarial skills0 shorthand, typing and everything. That was unusual. Probably only 20 per cent of the people in Arkansas even had a high school education. It was very uncommon to be able to attend high school, even as late as the 1980s here. That turned out really well because she came back here and after a series of really bad jobs working in bakeries and stuff, along came .orld .ar II and Little Rock became the site of Camp Robinson. It was going to house a whole division that was created and trained here. H2d0 Almost abandoned after .orld .ar I, in early 19,0, the United States reclaimed Camp Robinson and began construction on a temporary cantonment for the Thirty-fifth Division. There was a National uard division being called to active duty for one year of training and scheduled to be released from active duty on December 28, 19,1. 2lements of the Thirty-fifth began arriving in early 9anuary 19,1. .ith the start of .orld .ar II, the post took on a new role as a replacement training center. Initially, there were two centers, one for basic training and the other for medics. In 19,,, the two were combined into the Infantry Replacement Training Center. In addition to its role in training soldiers, Camp Robinson also housed a large erman prisoner of war facility, with a capacity of ,,000 prisoners.I 5 It was just a straight infantry division and it continued to be a big base. Camp Robinson was named after 9oe T. Robinson, the only person before Bill Clinton from Arkansas who had ever run for national office J vice president with Al Smith. 3om got a job at the camp as a secretary. She had all the skills. That saved us because she worked all through the war and as soon as the war ended the Army Corps of 2ngineers was going to be real big here. They were going to start all the 3ississippi and Arkansas rivers stabilization programs. She transferred to the Corps as the war was ending and she stayed with them until she retired after 80 years. It was a good job. ): Let2s talk about being a young kid growing up. 1hat sort of neighborhood did you live in3 CH2240 .e lived right across the street from the state capitol here in a little frame house. 3oney was so tight my grandmother rented one room in the house and took in a roomer. 3y aunt, motherDs younger sister, lived there too so the three of us shared one room in this frame house which we also shared with a roomer. It was only really after the war, I guess maybe in the 1950s, when my mom was prosperous enough from her good civil service job that we were able to buy our first house and move out of there. It was a nice neighborhood. .e looked out the front door at the capitol grounds just across the street from the house and we walked down the street to an elementary school about 8, 10 blocks away. But, life was hard. ): As a kid, did you reali7e life was hard3 I mean, when you were young or was it just the way it always was3 CH2240 Ees, we did. There were lots of other kids and we werenDt living in such a well to do area. Like the other kids, you got clothes at 2aster and Christmas maybe as presents though mom sewed and always saw that we were well dressed. Our grandmother took on the role as the mother and raised us, while mom took on the role as the breadwinner.