The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project GEORGE G. B. GRIFFIN Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 30, 2002 Copyright 2004 ADS TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in stanbul, Turkey; raised in Turkey, and Georgia and South Carolina Georgia Tech and the University of South Carolina U.S. Navy Entered Foreign Service - 1,5, Naples, taly - .ice Consul 1,5,-1,60 1ucky 1uciano 2ennedy visit Colombo, Ceylon - Second Secretary and .ice Consul 1,60-1,65 Hickenlooper Amendment 3elations Soviets Environment Peace Corps 4rs. Bandaranaike Ford Foundation Speaking Tour Program 1,65 State Department - Operations Center 1,65-1,66 .ietnam Operations State Department - Near East5South Asia Bureau - Southeast 1,67-1,6, Asian Affairs - Ceylon and 4aldives Desk Officer State Department - UN Political Affairs - Political Officer 1,67-1,6, Embargos Calcutta, ndia 1,6,-1,70 4rs. Gandhi ndia-Pakistan 7ar 1 Bengal Communists Environment Bhutan 4other Theresa slamabad, Pakistan - Political Officer 1,70-1,78 Bhutto Environment Government ndia-Pakistan comparison slamic fundamentalists Embassy Delhi- slamabad relations 1ahore, Pakistan - Deputy Principal Officer 1,78-1,75 Environment Bhutto 3elations Afghanistan slamic e9tremism 2ashmir State Department - Bureau of ntelligence and 3esearch - South 1,75-1,7, Asia Division ntelligence community Operations Shah troubles Ayatollah 2homeini Pakistan Embassy takeover Afghanistan Ambassador Dubs assassinated ndia nuclear program State Department - Foreign Service nstitute - Dari 1,7, 1anguage Study 2athmandu, Nepal :Temporary Duty) - Deputy Chief of 4ission 1,7, 2abul, Afghanistan - Chargé 1,80-1,81 TDY in 2athmandu, Nepal Evacuation Security Document destruction Environment Soviet invasion 0 Soviet defector 1agos, Nigeria - Commercial Counselor 1,81-1,84 Trade Soviet AtricksB Oil Environment French Corruption Dunn ACard Security Tribal rivalry Ambassador Pickering Seoul, 2orea - 4inister-Counselor :Commercial) 1,84-1,86 Trade Environment .isitors Olympics American businessmen 2orean industry U.S. auto industry 3elations Cith Dapan State Department - Senior Seminar 1,86-1,87 Course of study Nairobi, 2enya - Deputy Chief of 4ission 1,87-1,,0 U.S. navy base Environment .isitor problems 3elations President 4oi Government Ambassador Hempstone State Department - Near East5South Asia Bureau - ndia 1,,0-1,,8 Country Director ndian Foreign 4inister .2. Gujral Orientation trip ndia-Pakistan relations slam U.S. markets Education State Department - 4anagement Task Force - .ice Chairman 1,,8 8 3etirement ceremonies State Department - Economic Bureau - Deputy to Coordinator for 1,,8-1,,5 Business Affairs AAmericaEs DeskB 1ecture circuit Trade Policy Coordinating Council E9port promotion 4ilan, taly - Consul General 1,,5-1,,8 Embassy relations U.S. military bases American Chamber of Commerce US S Security . P visits 1a Scala Environment Cavalese air tragedy Politics State Department - nspection Corps 1,,8-1,,, Post inspections 3etirement 1,,, INTERVIEW Q: oday is April 30, 2002. his is an interview with George Griffin. his is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and raining, and I'm Charles Stuart Kennedy. Do you go by George( G3 FF N: Sure. Q: Let's start at the beginning. When and where were you born( G3 FF N: Cas born on October 00nd, 1,84, in stanbul, Turkey, at the Admiral Bristol Hospital. Q: How come( Istanbul is not the normal place. G3 FF N: 4y father Cas a businessman. He Cas in the tobacco business in Turkey. He Cas originally from North Carolina, and my mother Cas from South Carolina. He Cas in Turkey for 40-plus years in that business. He started in Greece, in Salonika, and then 4 moved to Turkey, after Chich he got married. Because my mother had lost her first baby in Samsun, Chich is Chere they Cere living first, they decided she should go to a proper hospital to have me. After that, Ce lived in Samsun until my mother, my little sister, and left in the summer of 1,8,. She Cas about to have another baby and thought there Cas a Car coming, so Ce left. 4y father left Turkey in 1,41. He Cas almost captured by the Dapanese. Because the Car had blocked shipping in the 4editerranean, he and tCo colleagues had to go through the Pacific, and he managed to get out. They Cent first to Cairo, Chere they kneC Chargé dEAffaires 3ay Hare, Cho had served earlier in stanbul. He helped them get passage to Bombay, Chere they Cere stuck because of events in the Pacific, and they soon ran out of money. donEt knoC hoC long they Cere there, but they stayed at the Taj 4ahal Hotel in Bombay, Chich Cas the top of the line there at that time. Eventually 1iggett G 4yers, my fatherEs parent company, Cired them money for a PanAm Clipper flight to 4anila via Singapore, and enough to pay their hotel bill, but nothing else. 4y father alCays told a story about their departure from Bombay, saying that as they opened the door to their room they saC most of the hotel staff lined up outside Cith their hands out for ba,shish. The three huddled to figure out Chat to do. Finally one of them said, AAll Ce can do is to thank them profusely and shake their hands.B So thatEs Chat they did. 7hen they got to 4anila in December 1,41, things got even tighter, Cith chaos and panic. Apparently they Cere bumped from their Pan Am flight, and all other flights Cere rerouted aCay from 4anila as Dapanese forces approached. Finally they located one deck passage ticket, on a ship headed for Australia. They dreC straCs, and my father Cas the lucky one. The other tCo didnEt get out, and became prisoners of the Dapanese for the remainder of the Car, enduring miserable concentration camp conditions and a Adeath march.B After my father got to Sydney he found a plane to, think, Chile, and from there up to 4iami. remember that my mother managed to get some e9tra gasoline ration coupons, and Ce drove to 4iami to meet him. hadnEt seen him for at least a year and CasnEt too sure Chat he looked like. That Cas a traumatic time for me. 4y father returned to Turkey in 1,45, by freighter, in an international convoy accompanied by U.S. Carships. Q: Let's get a little about your family. What about your father's bac,ground( G3 FF N: He Cas the eldest son of a school administrator, school superintendent, in North Carolina. He greC up here and there, as his father Cas transferred from one school district to another. He Cent to Davidson College briefly, and then to the University of North Carolina, Chere one of his classmates Cas the actor 3andolph Scott. For Chatever reason, Chen he heard about a job offer in Turkey, he seiHed it and Cent there in 1,08. On his first home leave, he met my mother. They Cere married in Turkey. CasnEt alive so donEt remember the details. They Could have been married in 1,81 or E80. Q: Were the Griffins a long-time Carolina family( G3 FF N: Yes, as far as knoC. can go back tCo generations before my father, but that 5 family Bible didnEt have very good records. They Cere certainly North Carolinians. Before that, donEt knoC, e9cept that they came originally from reland. Q: .our mother's maiden name was...( G3 FF N: 4ary Carroll Byers. Q: Was she a South Carolinian( G3 FF N: She Cas a South Carolinian. Q: Where did she go to school( G3 FF N: 7ell, she Cent to several places. Her family Cas from a small toCn called Gaffney, Chere her father and grandfather Cere business partners. By the time she met my father, the family had become Iuite prosperous and oCned most of the businesses and much of the land in and around the toCn. She apparently Cas a good scholar. She studied in Gaffney at 1imestone Girls Academy :noC College), and Cent on to Shorter College in 3ome, Georgia, and then to Boston College. She taught briefly at St. DohnEs in Annapolis before she Cent off to Turkey and got married. Q: After your mother and father were married, did your mother continue teaching( G3 FF N: She taught me Chen there Cas no formal school. think she taught kindergarten for a Chile in Turkey, but most of the international community J her Turkish Cas rudimentary at first J Cas French, so she concentrated on learning those languages. She learned both pretty Cell over the years. Q: .ou were about five when you left ur,ey. Do you recall anything about it( G3 FF N: Not really. have some vague memories, but they are probably based on family photos. Apparently, to help them fit in Cith their friends, my parents practiced French at home and didnEt Cant me to rely solely on English. had different nannies; over time there Cas a Greek, a Syrian, and an Armenian. The cook and maid Cere Turks, and so learned a little bit of all those languages as a youngster. Em told that began speaking English Cith a British accent, much of it picked up on the Cay to America on the canEt rememberCas it the GripsholmK Q: Well, the Gripsholm was the Swedish one that sort of went bac, and forth particularly during the war for repatriation. G3 FF N: 7ell, Em not sure Chich ship, but apparently our cabin steCard Cas a British man Cho talked to me a lot, Chich helped improve my English. During my first summer in South Carolina, my mother sent me to a boyEs camp to help me integrate into American society.