Freeman, Anthony G
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs History Project Labor Series ANTHONY G. FREEMAN Interviewed by: Don Kienzle Initial Interview date: February 7, 1995 Copyright 2 4 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Personal Bac ground: Family, Education, Military Service Rutgers University U.S. Army Princeton University, )oodrow )ilson School Research on the Social Impact of the Alliance for Progress Father in the Auto Parts Industry, Family Strong Supporters of Fran lin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal Foreign Service .fficer, Department of State, )ashington, DC 101121012 Temporary Assignment in the ARA Labor Advisor4s .ffice Part time Labor Training at American University Meeting at the AFL2CI. with Serafino Romualdi Buenos Aires, Argentina 101221015 Assistant Labor Attach6, 1012 Labor Attach6 Irving Salert Peronist Labor Movement 7isa and Economic )or 7alencia, Spain, Political .fficer and 7ice Consul 101521011 Department of State, )ashington, D.C. for Labor Training 101121018 La Pa9, Bolivia, Labor Attach6 101821080 Role of Trade Unions in Bolivian Political Process AID Counterpart Funds and the Labor Attach6;s Slush Fund for "Social Projects" USIA Local Employee )alter Camacho and the Mining District The State Mining Enterprise C.MIB.L and the AID Assistance Program )ithdrawal of Peace Corps 7olunteers from the Mines Earlier Hostage Crisis Involving American Embassy Employees Che Guevara and His Shortlived Insurgency in Bolivia 1 7isit of Governor Roc efeller on a Hemispheric Tour Student Riot and Rescue of Fellow Embassy Employee Department of State, )ashington, D.C., Des .fficer for Bolivia 108021082 Congressional Fellowship 108221083 Congressman Peter Rodino and Mediation Efforts in Newar , New Jersey Exploring the Need for Human Rights Legislation with the Senate Staff Sao Paulo, Bra9il, Chief of the Political Section 108321081 Human Rights Reporting and Encouraging Civil Democracy during the Nixon and Ford Administrations Cardinal Paulo Arns Buenos Aires, Argentina, Labor AttacheAPolitical Counselor 108121080 Peronist Trade Union Leaders Caught Up in CThe Dirty )arD Differences Between Patt Derian and the U.S. Embassy over Human Rights Meeting between Jacobo Timerman and Representative Gilman Contacts with Argentina;s Junta Members and Top Political Leaders and Encouraging the Restoration of Civilian Democracy Federal Police HeadEuarters Loren9o Miguel American Institute of Free Labor Development FAIFLD) AIFLD Program Director Bob Ca9ares Rome, Italy, Labor Counselor 108021083 Assignment Process Ambassador Gardner;s Plan to Promote Contacts with Italian EurocommunistsH First Meeting with AFL2CI. International Affairs Director Irving BrownH The Italian Labor Movement: United Federation, CGIL2CISL2UIL AFL4s Historical Relationship with the CISL Impact of Socialist Leader Craxi on Labor Unity Lech )alesa4s 7isit to Rome in December 1080 UIL Director of International Affairs Scricciolo Relationships within the Political Section of the Embassy Scala Mobile or )age Indexation and Its Impact on Labor Unity Embassy Contacts with the Communist Leadership of the CGIL AFL Support for the CISL and CI. Support for UIL with USG Funding Special Assistant to Secretaries of State Shult9, Ba er and 108321005 Eagleburger and Coordinator International Labor Affairs FSAIL) Role of Irving Brown in the SAIL Assignment Process International Labor .rgani9ation U.S. Policy Change on the Ratification of IL. Conventions National Endowment for Democracy, NED Defense of the Labor Attach6 Program 2 Bush Administration Clinton Administration Elimination of SAIL and the Merger of Labor Function with Democracy and Human Rights Elimination of Bureau Labor Advisor Positions and Its Impact )or er Rights and the Annual Human Rights Report Division of Labor between the IL. and the USG on )or er Rights Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union ReEuest to 7isit Moscow The USSR Coal Miners; Stri e of 1080 7isits to the Mining Districts and Stri e Leaders; 7isits to the United States Impact on the Collapse of the Soviet Union Travel to East Germany and Eastern Europe. Birthday Party at the Sputni Hotel for Leader of the Miners Meeting of New Trade Union Leaders from Russia and the East Bloc The Labor Attache Program and Its Future Prospects Director, IL. )ashington .ffice 100522003 Postscript 200322005 INTERVIEW ': This is Don Kienzle. Today is Tuesday, February 7, 1995, and I have the pleasure this morning of interviewing Anthony ,. Freeman, a long-time Foreign Service .fficer and until November 1994, the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and Coordinator International Labor Affairs 1S2I03. Than4 you very much, Tony, for agreeing to participate in our Labor Diplomacy .ral History Pro7ect. FREEMAN: My pleasure, Don. ': Shall we begin with your personal bac4ground, where you came from, your education, etc8 FREEMAN: I4m from New Jersey. I did most of my schooling in New Jersey. I was born in Newar and went to high school in East .range, New Jersey. I did my undergraduate wor at Rutgers University. I spent one year at the main campus in New Brunswic and finished up the last three years in Newar . My degree was a bachelor of arts in the social sciences 2 history, economics, and politics. Immediately after college I had a fellowship for the summer to come down here to )ashington to attend the School of Advanced International Studies FSAIS) of Johns Hop ins University. They had a program in Mediterranean and Maghreb affairs. That was the summer of 10I1. Immediately thereafter I volunteered for the draft and was in the Army for almost two years in Jentuc y, Texas and Germany. )hen I came out of the Army, I received a fellowship to 3 attend the )oodrow )ilson School at Princeton University for a two year masters program in what they called "public affairs." I stayed on a third year in the Politics Department and was contemplating doing my doctorate there, but in the meantime I too the Foreign Service exam and decided that I had enough school and wanted to get to wor . I came to )ashington in mid21011 and joined the Foreign Service. ': Did your family have a labor bac4ground of any 4ind8 FREEMAN: No. My immediate family did not. My father was in the auto parts industry, he was a salesman and distributor of auto parts. I cannot say that I had any real association with organi9ed labor except by empathy. My grandfather on my father;s side was a bootma er and laborer who had immigrated from Hungary. My mother;s family came from Paterson, New Jersey, which had been a major textile center. The Triangle Fire tragedy in lower Manhattan was something we all learned about from an early age. I had many, many part2time jobs myself and paid my way through high school and college, but have to admit none of those were union jobs. KLaughterL ': No union card8 FREEMAN: Sorry to say I didn4t have a union card. I wor ed on the doc s in Port Newar and didn4t have a union card. ': 9as any of your academic wor4 in the area of international labor8 FREEMAN: I cannot say that it was. I have to thin bac myself as to how I developed an interest in labor affairs, and fran ly, it is a bit ha9y to me. I did elect a course at Rutgers on domestic American labor issues, but the professor was not inspiring. I would say that probably there was some ind of social underpinning for this interest. Certainly I came from a family bac ground in which we were strong supporters of Fran lin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, and I thin I had a good social consciousness all through my high school and college days. And, as far as I can recall, I was always sympathetic to the idea of organi9ed labor. Also, my first job in )ashington 2 one summer in the 10I0s while I was still going to school 2 was at the Department of Labor verifying the wage slips of agricultural guest2wor ers from Mexico allowed in on the CbraceroD program. I got that job through a Federal civil service2wide examination and the assignment to Labor may have been by accident, but probably there was an element of choice involved and I may have opted for this. Following the Army and the )oodrow )ilson School, when I stayed on at Princeton for the third year in 10I021010 to contemplate a doctoral dissertation, I began wor ing on the idea of doing my thesis on the Alliance for Progress in Latin America. I wanted to concentrate on the social impact of the Alliance for Progress. I did some research before giving it up and deciding to go into the Foreign Service. So I had an interest in Latin America, and more specifically in social affairs in Latin America, before I came into the Foreign Service. 5 Then I joined the Foreign Service in 1011 and too the entry level training program at the Foreign Service Institute FFSI). I was assigned on my first tour to Buenos Aires as a "central complement officer." I thin that4s what it was called. ': 9hat time frame was this8 FREEMAN: I started in the Foreign Service in July of 1011, so by December of 1011 I was finished with the training program and language training and everything. And I was due to go out to Buenos Aires, but then I was caught in a travel free9e. So it isn4t true that the screw2ups in the State Department are of recent vintage only. KLaughterL There was a travel free9e because of delay in Congressional appropriations, I believe, at the end of 1011, so I was detailed to the State Department and my assignment to Buenos Aires was put off for six months. In the meantime, I was temporarily detailed to the Labor Advisor4s .ffice in the Bureau of Inter2American Affairs FARA). During the time I was there, I signed up for an evening training program on domestic and international labor issues, once a wee or something li e that, at American University in which Murray )eis9 was one of the teachers among others.