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Fritts, Robert E The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project ROBERT E. FRITTS Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: September 8, 1999 Copyright 200 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS European Affairs 19 9-1962 Luxembourg 1962-1964 To(yo, Japan 196 -1968 East Asian Affairs ,EA-, Japan Des( 1968-19.1 Foreign Service 0nstitute ,FS0-, Economics 1ourse 19.1 Ja(arta, 0ndonesia2 Economic Officer 19.2-19.3 4hartoum, Sudan2 19.3-19.4 4igali, Rwanda 19.4-19.6 East Asian Affairs ,EA- 19.6-19.9 1onsular Affairs ,1A- 19.9-1982 Accra, 7hana 1983-1986 8illiamsburg, 9irginia, The 1ollege of 8illiam and Mary 1986-198. Office of 0nspector 7eneral - Team Leader 198.-1989 INTERVIEW $: Today is the 8th of September 1999. This is an interview with Robert E. Fritts. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and 1 I'm Charles Stuart Kennedy. Bob and I are old friends. Could you tell me when, where you were born and something about your family- FR0TTS2 0 was born in 1hicago, 0llinois, in 1934. 0 had the good fortune of being raised in the 1hicago suburb of Oa( Par(, then labeled as the "largest village in the world." 0n contrast to a Foreign Service career, we didn't move. 0 went through the entire Oa( Par( public school system ,(-12-. My parents were born and grew up in St. Joseph, 0llinois, a very small town near 1hampaign-Urbana, home of the University of 0llinois. My father, the son of a railroad section trac( foreman, was poor, but wor(ed his way through the University of 0llinois to gain a mechanical engineering degree in 1922. He was a very good, serious and self- disciplined student. Hard to imagine now, but much of his income was earned from trapping mus(rats, min( and foxes in and along the sluggish streams of the area. My mother also lived in the town, the daughter of dairy farmers. She became an elementary school teacher. They were high school sweethearts who were married in 1hicago after my father found an entry-level management job in the steel industry. Over some 30-plus years, he rose to become executive vice president of a family-owned fabricating firm, Taylor Forge 0ron & Pipe 8or(s, now defunct. 0ndeed, after later being ta(en over by 7ulf and 8estern, it was raAed. 0n terms of the Foreign Service, their bac(ground is interesting only in the context that while 0 was growing up, neither had any overseas or international exposure or interests. Neither did their parents. Nor for years did they (now anyone who did, other than in the immigrant mix of 1hicago. Several uncles served in 8800, but they were reticent to tal( and had no desire to go abroad again. During 8800, my father was judged too important to the war effort for a uniform because of his (ey role in producing war materiel. 0n later years, after 0 was in the Foreign Service, he became somewhat internationally minded as the firm acCuired several foreign plants in Scotland and elsewhere, which he visited freCuently. 0n addition, the small firm became one of only three American companies with the s(ill to forge the large titanium rings that composed the s(eletons of Minute Man missiles. 0n later years, the firm suffered greatly from losing its bread-and-butter business of pipe, fittings and flanges to 8estern European producers. He held the Marshall Plan responsible. Eventually, my older brother served in the Air Force and also wor(ed for a time in the Philippines. 0 made international and foreign affairs a life. 0n retrospect, my family portrayed the general pattern of America in the 20th century - from farms, railroads and small towns to the city and industry, from a domestic industrial focus thru 8800 to the 1old 8ar and missile defense, from global military strength to trade competition and foreign investment, and a son representing the U.S. abroad in the Foreign Service. $: .ow about life at home- /hat did one tal0 about sitting around the dinner table- /ere there family chats or things of this nature- 2 FR0TTS2 Sure, in those days of "house(eeping Moms", family dinners were standard. 8e always had sit-down dinners together. 0t was a routine and important aspect of a family ,parents and two boys-. 0 don't recall much abstract discussion and certainly not on foreign affairs. My father was a firm Republican, although he was also very pro-union. My mother was raised a Democrat and they teased each other about her vote for FDR in 1934 being offset by his vote against. 0 thin( it was the last Democrat vote she cast. As 0 recall, most of our table chat was on events of the day, with the exception that my father tal(ed a good deal about leadership and management - of men, of course. He was a fine executive who never lost the common touch. My mother said that his father ,a grandfather 0 never (new- had a town-wide reputation for running the teams who swung pic(axes for him on the 0llinois 1entral railroad trac(. The men at Taylor Forge apparently loved and respected my father. 0n fact, no union at the main 1icero plant would sign a collective bargaining agreement unless my father's signature was on it. He had considered views about the capabilities of people and how to motivate them. He believed firmly that he had reciprocal obligations. My brother and 0, in our adult lives, followed many of those principles and are much the better for it. 0ndeed, there were occasions in the Foreign Service when 0 consciously followed his ideas, such as periodically "wal(ing the plant floor" of an embassy from motor pool to communications, trying to leave each "job" or post better than 0 found it, and identifying talent wherever it was at whatever level. $: In the steel business, management wasn't regarded as progressive. 1our father was sort of a maveric0, wasn't he- FR0TTS2 Not really. He just sincerely cared about men and thought good management was also good business. He was unusual for the time in his belief in and support of unions, in large part because he believed his father than been exploited by the railroad barons of the day. Shortly after 8800, the plant had an extended major and violent stri(e by its certifiably 1ommunist leadership. My father eventually resolved it, in considerable part because the men would not associate my father personally with the "capitalist" stereotypes portrayed by the stri(e leaders. 0 well recall from those table conversations a tenet that "8or(ers don't settle stri(es, wives do," in the sense that wives eventually put pressure on men to go bac( to wor(. 0 came close to trying that once in 4igali when the motor pool "downed tools," but 0 wasn't sure if the approach would be cross-culturally transferable. $: 1ou went to school in 2a0 Par0, Illinois. /ere they public schools- FR0TTS2 Des, all the way through. $: Let's tal0 about elementary school. 3 FR0TTS2 8illiam Hatch School was one of about eight feeder schools into the high school. 0t provided a very good education with an emphasis on English. 0 can diagram sentences today to the nth branch. The teachers were excellent. They were all women and unmarried - a carryover from the Depression, 8800 and the then-attitude that teaching was one of the few acceptable professions for women. $: .ow about reading at the elementary level- Do you recall, did you use the library a lot- FR0TTS2 0 don't recall, but 0 was an inveterate reader as a boy. My grandmother, who lived in St. Joseph, 0llinois, had a shelf of 1ivil 8ar boo(s inherited from her father, who had served with the .2nd 0llinois 9olunteers. The boo(s were primarily memoirs of Union leaders e.g. 7rant, Sherman, Sheridan, Logan etc. 0 learned to read literately from those boo(s, including by flashlight under a blan(et in her house. A love of reading, of history, of non-fiction and of great men doing great things came from those volumes. 0 have them today at her behest. $: /hat spurred your grandmother to have those Civil /ar memoirs- FR0TTS2 Her father was a 1ivil 8ar veteran. He, li(e tens of thousands of others, was part of a large mar(et for boo(s about the war in which he and they had fought. The boo(s were mar(eted by boo0 bummers who peddled them by horse and wagon throughout the farms, towns and 7rand Army of the Republic posts of a still mostly rural America, including St. Joseph. 0t was a good business. My grandmother had very few boo(s and 0 doubt her father did. Eut she had these and treasured them even, though 0 suspect she had never read them. $: The high school 5 was it called 2a0 Par0 High School- FR0TTS2 Actually, the Oa( Par( & River Forest Township High School. 0t was unusual for its time - Cuite large ,about 2400 students- with functional buildings and grounds - almost li(e a small college in a middle-class suburb of western 1hicago. 0t was recogniAed as one of the preeminent public high schools in the country. Again, English was emphasiAed. Even expository writing was virtually reCuired. The English teachers lamented that Ernest Hemingway, an Oa( Par(er, had dropped out years before. They felt his writing would have been improved under their tutelage.
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