The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project GARY S. USREY Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 21, 2002 Copyright 2003 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born at Marine orps air station, herry Point, North arolina Raised at various military ports in U.S. and abroad University of Maryland Treasury, Bureau of ustoms - Intern Program 19,0-19,. Entered Foreign Service 19,. A-100 course FSI - Arabic 0anguage Training 19,1 Baghdad, Ira2 - U.S. Interests Section 19,1-19,3 4urdish insurgency Arab boycott 5overnment Security Protection cases Saddam Hussein Soviets Economy Relations Iran Oil Baathism Islam Buenos Aires, Argentina 19,3-19,8 Economy Human rights The 7dirty8 war onsular functions 1 Ale:andria, Egypt - Deputy Principal Officer 19,9-1982 U.S. fleet visits Environment Israel 0ibya arter visit Security U.S. commercial presence Sadat State Department - Mid-0evel ourse 1982 State Department - Operations enter - Watch Officer 1982-1981 Operations State Department - Board of E:aminers 1981 Foreign Service women Harvard University - 4ennedy School - 1981-1985 Public Administration Student ourse study Dutch versus English auction Bilbao, Spain - onsul 5eneral 1985-1988 Bas2ue separatism Environment Relations 0ibya banking Terrorism Panama ity, Panama - onsul 5eneral 1988-1990 Noriega Elections anal Accords U.S. military action Security Task force State Department - OES - Environmental Protection Office - 1990-1992 Deputy Director Montreal protocol Environmental issues 4yoto Agreement N5Os Negotiations 2 State Department - NEA/RA - Deputy Director 1992-1991 Rabat, Morocco - D M 1991-1998 Arab 0eague boycott Environment U.S. military Downsizing Western Sahara Polisario 5overnment Referendum 4ing Hassan French Trade European Union State Department - NEA/South Asia - India, Nepal, and Sri 0anka - 1998-2001 Director Nuclear weapons 4ashmir Relations Pakistan aste system Religion Security ouncil 2uestions New York, New York - USUN - Senior Advisor on South Asia 2001 World Trade Building disaster Afghanistan Taliban Retirement 2001 INTERVIEW Q: Let%s start at the beginning. Can you tell me when and where you were born, and a little about your family) USREYA I was born on September 18, 1918, at a Marine orps air station in herry Point, North arolina. My father was a marine pilot. He had enlisted in the marines after high school graduation. He grew up in rural, central Tennessee, near Nashville. My mother was from eastern Tennessee, Bohnson ity, 4ingsport area. He came in as an eager recruit. He liked to tell the story that when he went to the recruiting station in Nashville, he didnCt weigh enough to get in. He wanted to be a pilot. He was three pounds 3 below the minimum. He went down to the corner fruit stand, and ate four bananas and a couple apples, and went to the water fountain, and drank about a gallon of water, and went back and got in. But, later he was commissioned as an officer, and got into flight school. Ultimately, he ended up flying President EisenhowerCs helicopter, Marine. I. You know, that s2uad that lands on the White House lawn. We didnCt live in herry Point very long. We went to 5uam shortly thereafter, for a few months. Then, briefly, we were in Hawaii, and then southern alifornia, for several years. Q: Well, let%s go back a bit. What do you know about your father%s early life, and where the ,srey%s came from) USREYA WeCve always been told that the 7Usrey8 name is Scotch-Irish. I havenCt done any research in that regard, but the name is somewhat common in the south. You run into Usreys now almost always in 5eorgia, 4entucky, Tennessee. The story that came down is that they came, for the most part, from Ireland in the 18th century, and intermarried with Scotch immigrants too. My grandfather worked for the railroads. My father, having been born in 1920, grew up mostly in the depression. It was really tough. It was rural, in 4ingston Springs, Tennessee. There was a lot of hunting, fishing, stuff that didnCt cost very much. The military was a way out, I suppose. Q: Did he get through high school) USREYA Yes, he graduated high school, which in those days, was an achievement. Q: It really was. USREYA He met my mother Shirley by accident in the Washington area. She came up, as so many women did, to work for the e:panding government. They were married in 1915. She had worked with Wild Bill Donovan at the OSS, wherever that was located in those days. I think it was across the street from the State Department. Q: I think so. There used to be a dairy there. USREYA Oh reallyD So, they met somehow. I never got those details. They got married in 1915. My dad went to Wooster, Ohio for some training, some academic training. They moved around a little bit. I donCt think they went overseas together until 5uam. Q: Did you have a feel for, on your mother%s side of the family, what their name was and where they came from) USREYA It was 7Eogner8 or Wagner, which reminds me of a joke when I grew up about how one eats 5erman- hinese food, and two hours later, oneCs hungry for power. But, my grandfather worked in a small bank, in rural eastern Tennessee. I think her motherCs side of the family was from Indiana. How they made their way to Tennessee, ICm not clear on. I should check one day. 4 Q: Did she get through high school, college) USREYA She did, and went to a business college then, studying stenography and all that. She was really adept at what was then an emerging skill, typing and dictation, all that stuff. She was working in Washington, got an apartment, had a roommate, and worked for the government. Q: Did you grow up, more or less, as a marine kid, were they -brats,. or what did they call them) USREYA Yes, I guess we were 7brats.8 Q: Or 0uniors) Is it 1avy 0uniors, and army brats) USREYA And marines, who knows whatD 0eather neck juniors, or something like that. We lived on or near bases. When my dad was at El Toro, in southern alifornia, he built his first house, in what was then Tustin, near what later became Disneyland. I have fond memories of that. We werenCt on the base then. Then, he was reassigned to Pensacola, Florida and we lived off-base there, for four years, and then up to Fuantico, Eirginia. I went to third, fourth, fifth, and si:th grade there, I think. We lived on the base there, in officerCs 2uarters. The Marine orps was always present. Q: s a young lad, did you get what one thinks of the classic marine corps, 0unior business, snapping to attention) 2ou think of the great... There was a movie, book... USREYA I know what you are talking about. Q: nyway, snapping to, and that sort of thing) Did that permeate the house, or not) USREYA Dad was a pretty strict disciplinarian. They were both from the south, and this was the 1950s. You said, 7Yes, MaCam,8 and 7No, Sir,8 to your parents. This is something that my wife later found pretty 2uaint. She was from onnecticut, and they didnCt do that. My kids certainly donCt say that now. He could be pretty tough. We did some stupid things, and got severely punished, as we should have been, for whatever it was. For instance, setting an orange grove on fire, in southern alifornia one time. We burned all these houses, and thousands of dollars worth of citrus trees down. ItCs hard to separate what was southern traditional in that way, and what was the marine corps, but it was clear he was molded by the marine corps, the physical part. He was a pretty tough physical specimen, too. Q: Do you have brothers, sisters) USREYA I have one brother. Q: Older, younger) USREYA Four years younger. He lives in the Mesa, Phoeni: area of Arizona. 5 Q: In going to elementary school, what did you like to do, as far as sub0ects, interests, sports or anything like that) USREYA I always liked sports. I played 0ittle 0eague. 0iving on or connected to a base meant that it was also always an organized activity scene. I pitched in 0ittle 0eague for four years, and was on the basketball team. Academically, speaking, I remember something very interesting. I think it was in the fourth grade, when we had an e:change student from Argentina. He was on the base, so it must have been that his father was an e:change officer from Buenos Aires or something, and at Fuantico, for some reason. He was there for a year. His name was 5uillermo. I will never forget when we were making salt maps, relief maps together. I guess it is salt, and dough, and flour. I became e:tremely interested in Argentina, and his life overseas. This to me was fascinating that there was a kid in our class who wasnCt from America. I learned a lot from him. My horizons were e:tended 2uite a bit with that. Other than that, it was pretty normal. We got a TE, more or less, when people got TEs. One thing that was different - my grandfather, my motherCs father, Mr. Wagner, as we called him, after being widowed, was living in the Dodge Hotel in Washington. In those days, you could take up residence in a hotel. I rode the streetcar with him to 5riffith Stadium, and we saw Harmon 4illebrew and the Senators play in the old wooden stadium.