SIERRA LEONE COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS William Clark Jr. 1959-1961 Vice Consul, Freetown Halvor C. Ekern 1961-1963 Deputy Chief of Mission, Freetown Walter C. Carrington 1961-1963 Peace Corps Director, Sierra Leone, Freetown Larry C. Williamson 1961-1963 Consular Officer, General Services Officer, Freetown William G. Bradford 1966-1968 Deputy Chief of Mission, Freetown Willard De Pree 1968-1970 Counselor of Embassy, Freetown Thomas N. Hull III 1968-1970 Peace Corps Volunteer, Sierra Leone Donald Petterson 1970-1972 Deputy Chief of Mission, Freetown Leon Weintraub 1971-1972 Field Research in Sierra Leone, University of Wisconsin Cynthia S. Perry 1971-1973 Peace Corps Volunteer, Sierra Leone Paul H. Tyson 1972 Student, Njala Agricultural College, Sierra Leone Clinton L. Olson 1972-1974 Ambassador, Sierra Leone Michael A. Samuels 1975-1977 Ambassador, Sierra Leone John A. Linehan Jr. 1977-1980 Ambassador, Sierra Leone Theresa A. Healy 1980-1983 Ambassador, Sierra Leone Stephen Eisenbraun 1985-1986 Deputy Chief of Mission, Freetown Cynthia S. Perry 1986-1989 Ambassador, Sierra Leone Johnny Young 1989-1992 Ambassador, Sierra Leone 1 Mary A. Wright 1996-1998 Deputy Chief of Mission, Freetown Leon Weintraub 2000-2002 Deputy Director, West African Affairs, Washington, DC Vella G. Mbenna 2003-2005 Information Programs Officer, Freetown Thomas N. Hull III 2004-2007 Ambassador, Sierra Leone WILLIAM CLARK JR. Vice Consul Freetown (1959-1961) Ambassador William Clark, Jr. was born in California in 1930. He graduated from San Jose State College with a B.A. degree in 1955. He served in the U.S. Navy intermittently from 1949 to 1953. In 1957, he joined the State Department, serving in Sierra Leone, Japan, South Korea, Egypt, India, and Washington, DC. He was interviewed by Thomas Stern on January 11, 1994. Q: Let me start with the usual question. tell us a little about your background and education and how you came to the foreign affairs community. CLARK: As I said earlier, before new officers were sent overseas, they were required in those days to take another six weeks at FSI to become as familiar as possible with consular affairs. I attended that part of the course. I had, some months before departure, been told that I had been assigned to Sierra Leone. My first reaction was :"Where?". My second reaction was to point out that the US government didn't have an establishment there. I was told that there would be a post in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The U.S. government had decided to open a post in Freetown because all of Africa was moving in the direction of independence and it was assumed that Sierra Leone, sooner or later, would join in with the group of independent nations. When my assignment was made and even when we arrived, Sierra Leone was still a British colony and therefore our post was a Consulate. Sierra Leone became independent just before I left in 1961. Though a Consulate, Freetown was an independent reporting post. Our dispatches went directly to Washington. We did not report to London. Actually, I had requested an assignment to Africa, but it was "North Africa" that interested me. The Department said that Sierra Leone was as close as it could get to North Africa. Of course, my first choice was a German-language speaking post on the grounds that I might as well use what I had worked so hard to learn. I wanted to improve my German language skill, which I have never been able to. Nor have I ever been assigned to a post where German was at all useful. My second choice was North Africa because I had become interested in the Middle East and the Arab world. My third choice was Portugal, which I always put on my wish list because I had become convinced that no one ever got assigned to Portugal. That turned out to be also true, at 2 least for me. So I learned very early about the assignment process. Of the three choices I gave the Department, it picked Africa from the my request for "North Africa". As I said, I never used my German or never got to Portugal. My friendly personnel counselor was my idea of what a career officer should look like. He had a little gray brush moustache; he wore a three piece suit; he sat very upright behind his desk. After I heard of my assignment, he summoned me for a counseling session. He gave me a canned speech on how Personnel had been following my career with great interest. He said he knew that I had been studying German and that he was sure that I would be assigned to a German speaking post. I let the gentleman go through his prattle without interruption. Then I said: "That is very interesting, but I have been told that I have been assigned to Freetown, Sierra Leone. I understand that Sierra Leone is a British colony and I don't think that German is used there". The counselor sat up ever more erect and said: "You mean you knew this all the time and you let me go through my presentation?". I admitted that was so. He then dismissed me curtly. It was the last time that I ever saw a career counselor!. After having looked at a map of Africa and having located Freetown, I had to announce to my bride that the Department had made a decision about our immediate future. She took it like a good soldier. Then I met Herbert "Tom" Reiner, the senior officer who had been assigned to Freetown as well. It was at the beginning just a two-man post. I was enthusiastic about the assignment and looked forward to opening a new post. I also read Graham Greene's "The Heart of the Matter" which set my mind somewhat more at ease because it showed that one could survive despite the somewhat primitive conditions. There was a little more information, but Greene's book was the most extensive description I could find of Freetown. Reiner had done the basic survey work. So he was somewhat familiar with Freetown. He had been the administrative officer at our Embassy in Monrovia. After making the survey, the Department decided to appoint him as Counsel. On our way to Sierra Leone, we stopped in Monrovia for two months, making preparations for opening of the new post. In Monrovia, I learned another valuable lesson. The hotel in which we were staying cost more than our per diem. As could be expected, we didn't have an office in Sierra Leone, much less living quarters. Tom had recommended that we not move to Freetown until at least some office space had been rented. That was alright. I helped out a little with the consular work in Monrovia. I also had time to read parts of the Foreign Service Manual which had been sent to Monrovia, but had arrived in such condition that I had to re-assemble it all. Because I was to be assigned to a new post, not only did I receive the basic consular course at FSI, but I was also given a one day crash course on the duties and responsibilities of a Class-C cashier. Fortunately, once Freetown was opened, we were "fiscally serviced" by Monrovia. in those days, a post could survive with authorization to draw up to $ 2,000. When we arrived in Freetown in 1959, we found three rooms in the second best hotel in town. The best hotel, The City Hotel, wasn't much, so you can imagine what The Riviera was like. The first floor was occupied by a Lebanese merchant. The second floor was a bar-restaurant and a couple of rooms. There were more rooms on the third floor. The hotel was used for a variety of purposes: eating and business--of all sorts. We leased part of the building, but had not 3 refurbished it. Judith and I had one room, Tom had a second one and the room in between us became the office. We had some furniture and some was on its way still. Later, we moved the offices to a building right across from the Colonial Secretariat, which was very convenient. What little supervision we received came from Washington. Our efficiency and reviewing reports were written by a Washington office in the Bureau of African Affairs. Occasionally, we would contact London for assistance, but that was very rare. Our responsibility was primarily to initiate and maintain contact with the local leadership. We did some consular work, but not much. After Tom and I had been there for a few months, USIA opened an office. That placed an administrative work-load on us because we had to contract for and prepare for the opening of that office. Later on, we had to do the same thing when the assistance agency decided to open an office in Freetown. I don't remember us ever being asked about the assignment of USIA or assistance personnel, but I am sure that Tom would have supported such expansion. Tom had some minor difficulties with these new personnel; I also was concerned a little because I was the General Services officer and a lot of the work fell on me. The Consulate had a jeep and a Ford Fairlane. USIA sent a Plymouth for its representative. In those days, Plymouths had huge tailfins which made the car seem humongous particularly on Sierra Leone roads. When the assistance man came, he had a Chevy Impala, which was a bigger and better model than our other cars.