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 AMBASSADOR LEONARDO NEHER Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: October 18, 1989 Copyright 1998 A ST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background World War experience Security clearance and Foreign Service exam in McCarthy era Ankara Tangier, Morocco 1957-1962 Consular building Saigon, .ietnam 1962-1964 0.S. attitude to2ard involvement in .ietnam Ngo Dinh Diem4s assassination 0.S. commercial interests Damascus, Syria 1964-1966 0.S.- Syrian relations 5abor issues in Syria Anti- sraeli sentiments among Foreign Service Officers Syrian-Soviet ties Department of Defense 1966-1970 Working 2ith military 5ubumbashi, 7aire 1970-1972 0.S. interests in 7aire Abduction of a 7airian employee Corruption of 7aire Chad 1972-1974 Drought in Chad Comparing Chad and 7aire Santo Domingo, Dominican 8epublic 1974-1977 1 0.S. interest in Dominican 8epublic Political situation Environmental Agency 1977-1979 nternational EPA interests Board of Examiners 1979-1981 Discrimination in Foreign Service Difference in minority pass rates Establishing functional qualities Scoring 2omen separately ntelligence and 8esearch 1982-1984 8eagan administration4s attitude to2ard Africa Burkina Faso 1984-1987 Political situation 0.S. relations 2ith Burkina Faso French involvement in Burkina Faso Conclusion INTERVIEW ": Today is October 18th, 1989. This is an interview with Ambassador Leonardo Neher. I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. Ambassador Neher, to start off with, how did you become interested in foreign affairs( )ut first could you give a little of your background, education, and so forth( NEHE8: had one year of college in the to2n 2here gre2 up, Akron 0niversity, Akron, Ohio. That 2as 1940 to 1941, on the eve of the 2ar. had gotten an exemption from the mandatory 8OTC program, the first, guess, that Akron 0niversity had given, on the grounds of being a conscientious objector, a member of the Church of the Brethren, a Pennsylvania-Dutch style church 2ith a strong commitment to the principle of conscientious objection to military service. f you 2ere enrolled in 8OTC, you 2ould get an exemption, or deferment, until you finished your studies and completed the 8OTC training. You then you 2ent into the Army as an officer. But because had gotten an exemption from 8OTC 2as going to be drafted--this 2ould have been in 1942. n 1942 enlisted, preempting the draft. joined the Signal Corps 8eserve. A friend of mine had been in the 8eserve, the Signal Corps 8eserve, and liked it. joined it and did about nine months of training as a reservist, then 2as inducted into the Army in '43. After basic training, 2ent overseas, first to North Africa, arriving at Casablanca, and after a fe2 2 days moving on to Oran, Algeria, stayed there for a month or t2o in an infamous "repple depple "Areplacement depot), and then 2as sent on to Naples, then to AnCio, and to 8ome, and there my Signal Corps unit stayed until 1946. 2as a private at this time 2ith a unit that put together special detachments to service other Fifth Army units. 2orked 2ith French, Polish, British and Ne2 7ealand units, among others. ": The Italian campaign with the 5th Army was just loaded with the most diversified international force that has ever been fielded. NEHE8: 8ight, and 2e 2orked 2ith some of those. We did some field telephone 2ork 2ith artillery batteries and armored units 2iring up communications for them. But most of the time 2e stayed in 8ome and 2orked there. To2ards the latter part of my stay there, 2hich 2as almost t2o years, it 2as entirely in 8ome. We did a lot of 2ork on telephone installation, repair, pole line construction, and so forth. By the time left 2as a Staff Sergeant, Technician Third Drade. All this has a bearing on the Foreign Service. t 2as my first experience 2ith anything foreign. n Akron, Ohio, 2hen 2as gro2ing up 2as far removed from anything foreign. had never heard a foreign language spoken. That does not include the academic study of 5atin in high school, of course, intoned by my teachers in soporific voices. When got to Morocco 2as immediately fascinated by the sound of French. Then, in taly, jumped into language study right a2ay, and learned it very fast, and 2as very fluent in it. t 2asn't the best quality, it 2asn't the most erudite quality, 2as after all a soldier in 2artime. But loved the language, loved studying the language, and it opened up all a lot of talian doors. met friends and their talian families, 2ent to their homes for dinner, played tennis 2ith them, argues politics at a time of effervescence. When came back then to the 0nited States, 2as looking for something in my educational program that 2ould lead to some type of involvement in foreign affairs. kne2 nothing about the Foreign Service, didn't kno2 it existed. 2anted to enroll in the college of the 0niversity of Chicago but my discharge from the army came too late in the academic year and all places 2ere filled, so got into the only university near my home that 2ould accept me, Bo2ling Dreen State 0niversity. finished my undergraduate studies there in t2o and a half years, t2o years and one summer session. chose French as a major, and 2as studying Spanish on the side by myself. did political science as a minor. At graduation, 2as introduced to the uncle of a classmate 2ho seemed very progressive and challenging. He 2as a businessman from Chicago and 2as looking for somebody 2ith drive and imagination, 2hich had. He offered me a sales job 2ith unlimited possibilities, or so it seemed, and couldn't resist that offer. t turned out to be a mistake on my part to accept it. lost about t2o years there after graduation. Then entered graduate school at the 0niversity of Chicago, finished 2ith a Master's Degree in 1952, took the Foreign Service exam in '52, and passed it. Actually, 'd taken it t2ice before, but failed it-- a 68 or a 69, or 2hatever. finally passed it. t 2as that old three-and-a-half- 3 day 2ritten exam. You had to pass the language exam as part of it, 2hich did. passed it in 1952 but then, because that 2as in the middle of the McCarthy era, and the need to re- do so many security clearances, didn't get mine until late in 1954. They ran into all kinds of problems in my background--that conscientious objector business, some leftist associations had had in high school and college. 2as interested in domestic and international politics even 2hen 2as a student in high school, and had associated 2ith some people 2ho 2ere in the Young People's Socialist 5eague. 2asn't a member but they 2ere good friends of mine. And also 2as kno2n to have bought copies of the communist Daily Worker, and of a Derman propaganda publication, Facts in 8evie2, a propaganda publication out of Ne2 Eersey. So information in the FB files must have led State security people to conclude that 2as a dangerous leftist. They couldn't decide 2hat 2as. So they had to intervie2 me, and re-intervie2 me, and finally they concluded that 2as OF. n 1954 2as invited for the oral exam. At that time State did the 2ritten exam, then conducted the investigation, and finally gave the oral exam. The very manipulable policy 2as to score the oral exam not only on the basis of performance in the exam itself but on anything else the Board of Examiners kne2 about you--i. e., the results of the investigation. So they had a convenient 2ay at that time, at least this is the 2ay sa2 it then and also later 2hen looking back from my o2n experience as staff director of the Board of Examiners, to fail a candidate on the oral exam 2ithout having to explain that there 2as something in the background investigation that they didn't like. We can't do that no2, of course, as you kno2 from your o2n experience on the Board of Examiners. So assumed that because of my controversial background, 2as not going to be passed in the oral exam. But, surprise, surprise, the panel passed me in spite of some rather impertinent ans2ers gave in the belief that the panel had already decided to fail me. But the panel chairman... ": Cromwell Riches probably. NEHE8: Yes, he 2as the one 2ho announced the results to me. 'll never forget that moment. t 2as really very heartening in some 2ays. This 2as a moment of real hysteria in the 0nited States. ": )ecause of McCarthy. NEHE8: McCarthy, and 2e had Scott Mc5eod as head of security at the State Department. A number of conservative Senators and Congressmen, along 2ith conservative journalists, 2ere pushing him, encouraging him, and supporting him. And not long before had my oral exam he spoke to the DA8, saying in essence, "We're not going to take any more of these pinkos into the Foreign Service." And, of course, 2as pretty obviously a pinko from that bastion of leftism, the 0niversity of Chicago. But after the oral exam, in 2hich really leaned over back2ard to appear more contentious, and more radical than 2as, suggesting that the blacks, for example, 2ere not going to be able to achieve any kind of opportunity or any attain integrity in our society 2ithout the catalyst of violence. The panel 2as disturbed by that. defended the rights of labor unions 4 to move directly into political campaigns, and strive for more than just 2ages and 2orking conditions.