The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR GEORGE QUINCEY LUMSDEN Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: January 11, 2000 Copyright 2006 A ST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in New Jersey Princeton University% Georgetown University US Navy Entered the Foreign Service in 1957 Educational Exchange Program Officer, New -ork .ity 1957-1959 State Department, FS0% German language studies 1959 01mir, Turkey% .onsular Officer 1959-1921 Environment 3arriage Government Bonn, Germany% Economic Officer 1922-1925 Export .ontrol President 6ennedy visit Junior .ircle of Bonn Diplomats Amman, Jordan% .hief of .onsular Section7Political Officer 1925-1927 Damascus anti-Assad demonstration 0mmigration visas US military assistance Environment Palestinians asser and Arab call for Arab Unity Arab-0srael 1927 war Riots Black September 6ing Hussein US Arab70srael Policy 1 Beirut, Lebanon, FS0% Arabic language studies 1927-1929 Environment Saudi students at American University of Beirut Ethnic and religious groups Palestinian refugees asser Arabic language program 6uwait% Economic Officer 1929-1972 Wealth Oil Production eutral 1one division Relations Education Environment Gulf Oil .ompany 0ran 0raq threat 6uwaitis Palestinians Egyptians British Border issues State Department% Desk Officer for 6uwait, Bahrain, Qatar 1972-1975 And United Arab Emirates Paris, France% Economic Officer 1975-1979 0nternational Petroleum Agency Oil .risis 0ranian Revolution France>s world role Oil Embargo OPE. French energy policy 0nternational Energy Agency The French uclear Energy Alternative energy sources Ambassador>s role State Department% Deputy Director, Arabian Peninsular Affairs 1979-1982 Persian Gulf 0slands 2 Oil 0ran House of Saud US Security for Gulf Buraimi Oasis 6uwait 0ran hostages 0srael US 3ilitary Assistance Ambassador to The United Arab Emirates AUAE) 1982-1982 Shiite minorities Government Tribes Environment Gulf islands 0ran-0raq War French interests Terrorist activities Refueling agreements Hijacking Border issues B..0 banking scandal 3oney hungry visitors 6uwait Petroleum Director of the 0nternational Energy Agency 1982-1992 Geopolitics of Oil Oil pricing The French COil 3arket ReportD Third World nations 0raq 6uwait invasion Eene1uela igeria OPE. -amani 0raq Oil for Food Program .onsultant% 0nternational Energy Agency% Paris 1992-1995 Oil-Gas tradeoff Gulf Gas pipeline project Restrictions on 0nvestment in 0ran Territorial waters complications 3 General 3anager% Gulf South Asia Gas Project AUAE) 1995-1992 Pipeline Rights egotiating Teams .omposition Gulbenkian Anti-Semitism INTERVIEW F ote: This interview has not been edited by Ambassador LumsdenH ": Today is January 11, 2000. This is an interview with George "uincey Lumsden. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and I)m Charles Stuart Kennedy. Do you go by George* LU3SDE : Actually, 0 am a CJunior.D 0 sort of let go of the CJuniorD A0t>s still in my signature.) after my father passed on. But having exactly the same name as my father, my mother didn>t want to say CGeorgeD and have two people answer, so 0 became Quincey. 0t>s a slightly strange name. Growing up in the part of northern New Jersey that 0 did, no kid on the block was going to let it go. They sort of taunted me with it. 0 have responded to CQuinceyD ever since. ": I am Charles Stuart Kennedy, Junior. I go by +Stu, or +Stuart., Let)s have at it. -hen and where were you born and can you tell me something about your family* LU3SDE : Okay. 0 was born a child of the Depression. 0 was born in September 19, 1930 at 3orningside Hospital in 3ontclair, New Jersey. 3y father at that time was working for the Bell Telephone laboratories, then located on West Street in New -ork. He had a master>s degree in forestry from .ornell University and made the princely sum of $28.50. Some weeks, he worked only three and then four days. Then things picked up. When 0 was very young, we moved to 3aplewood, New Jersey only 12 miles from Times Square. At that time, we still had an icebox that you got your drinking water from, except on Fridays when your mother had bought a fresh fish and put it on top of the ice to stay cool for dinner that night, and the water tasted kind of funny. The coal was delivered by horse. The milk was delivered by horse. The only foreign language that 0 thought existed until 0 was about age seven was southern 0talian by the immigrants who were coming around. So, that is what in the mid-1930s life was like 12 miles from Times Square. ": -hat was your mother)s bac.ground* LU3SDE : 3y mother was born in Lawrenceburg, 0ndiana. Her parents met in 0ndiana. 3y grandfather on her side was from a family that had come out to 0ndiana early in the 5 19th century. He was born about 1858 or 1859 just at the cusp of the .ivil War. 3y grandmother had a touch of Native American in her from Nebraska. 0 think it was .row or something. But she was the descendent of Sam Dickie, who was a henchman of Daniel Boone>s, who went through the .umberland Gap in the 1700s and had been there a long, long time. 3y father was born in Brookline, 3assachusetts. Both of them were born in the year 1901. He was the first member of his family to be born in this country. His mother and father had immigrated from the United 6ingdom. His older brother was born in Halifax, ova Scotia. His older sister was born back in England. The name Lumsden is a pure Scot>s name. 3y grandfather always used to sit me on his knee and tell me, CRemember, lad, you must always be true to your clan and ne>er trust an English man.D Of course, he eliminated English women because he married oneL 0 can remember being taken by my mother and father down to Georgia where the Battle of Stone 3ountain was fought. That is where my father told me, CSon, this is where your mother>s ancestors hid behind rocks and took pot shots at mine. The big difference between them was, mine wore shoes.D 0 was an only child, probably as a result of the Depression. 0 was very, very fortunate growing up in very definitely middle class surroundings. 3y grandmother on my mother>s side did have some land in Nebraska which they sold, which permitted me instead of going to public high school after 0 finished junior high school in 3aplewood, ew Jersey to be sent to Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, 3assachusetts. ": Before we move to Deerfield, let)s tal. about the public schools in New Jersey. Can you tal. about getting that early education, your interest, and how the schools operated* LU3SDE : 0 think 0 mentioned once that the only foreign language 0 ever heard was Southern 0talian at that time from .alabria, Sicily, Naples, in that area. A couple of my friends in the early grade school years were Leo and Davio 3afe. They were great playmates. 0 think it was between the third the fourth grade when my parents moved to a different house in the same town, so the elementary school district changed and suddenly 0 was from a rather mixed background The first school, by the way, was integrated. We had 10-15 African-American students, lots of 0talian students, and then the mixture of white Anglo Saxon. We moved into a more upscale neighborhood where all of the students were white, most either Anglo Saxon or Jewish. That was the social strata. 0 will admit, at that time, my interest in things foreign was limited to the grand excitement of us getting into World War 00 and Pearl Harbor. 0 do clearly remember my parents and most all of their friends, particularly down in the town of 3aplewood, a lot of the shopkeepers were of German or 0talian extraction, but everybody in the town was rather stridently opposed to the United States having anything to do with this damned European war. The feeling was very negative in 195071951. Of course, all that flipped over entirely after Pearl Harbor. 0 can remember the day very, very well. 0 had gone with my friends to the .ameo Theater in South Orange, New Jersey to see a wonderful movie, Sergeant -ork with Gary .ooper. When we came out of the theater, we were told that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and that we were in the war. Our immediate reaction, age 10-12, 5 was, CGee, that>s greatLD We all went and played CLet>s kill Germans and JapsD in the backyard. 0n my family, there was no overriding interest in being involved directly, except that they did get involved. 3y father>s younger brother was in the 29th Blue-Grey Division here. He hit the beach in Normandy and is now buried at St. Laurent Sur 3er. 0 visited his grave several times. ": They too. a terrible beating. LU3SDE : -es. ": A little before the war started, what was the table conversation about, particularly on 1oosevelt* -as it +That man in the -hite House, or was it +3ur god in the -hite 2ouse*, LU3SDE : 0n spite of the fact that my father only was pulling down $28.50 a week to start with. That improved considerably later, both his family and my mother>s family from 0ndiana were rock Republicans. 0t wasn>t so much CThat man in the White House,D particularly after we got into the war, but it was CWe>ve got to figure out some way to get the Republican Party back on its feet.