Dearborn, Henry
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project HENRY DEARBORN Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 24, 1991 Copyright 2009 A ST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in assachusetts Dartmouth College and Yale Law School Foreign Policy Association Entered the Foreign Service in 1941 Barran)uilla, Columbia, -ice Consul 1941.1942 utiny Environment 0erman influence anta, Ecuador, Principal Officer 1942.19449 Opening Consulate Blacklisted firms Environment Operations 1ndustry Living conditions 0uaya)uil, Ecuador2 Consular Officer 3blacklist firms4 1944 Revolution State Department2 Ecuador Desk Officer 1944.1947 Seymour 1sland Base Rights Spruille Braden Braden7 essersmith feud State Department, Argentine Desk Officer 1947.1982 State Department, Director, Office of South American Affairs 1982.1988 Argentina Castro 1 FB1 interest in Latin America Legal Attach9s Peron Rio Treaty cCarthy Argentina:s nuclear energy project Nazis in Argentina Lima, Peru2 Head of Political Section 1988.1988 Peru.Ecuador relations Family Politics Attempted coup Elections US Ambassadors US interests Peru.Ecuador boundary dispute National War College 1988.1989 Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic 1989.1961 Deputy Chief of ission Ambassador Aoseph Farland Situation under Trujillo Catholic Church:s role Deteriorating US relations Support for Trujillo in US US and opposition forces Break in relations Acting as C1A station chief Assassination of Trujillo Emergency departure President Balguer Ramfis Trujillo Trujillo:s attempt to frighten US Trujillo:s torture methods President Bennedy:s secret 3Robert urphy4 to Trujillo Bennedy interest in DR regimes Relations with C1A 1989.1961 Charg9 d:affaires C1A re)uests Dearborn to be link to DR opposition 1n touch with pro.US dissidents C1A chief arrives Aan. 1961 2 US and overthrow of Trujillo 1989. 1961 US moral support to dissidents US support to Trujillo:s opposition 0rowing anti.US campaign of Trujillo US opposes assassination US agrees to supply arms to opposition Several rifles given to opposition Rockefeller commission to investigate C1A Senate Select Committee on 1ntelligence Activities Bogota, Colombia 1961.1967 Deputy Chief of ission Ambassador Fulton Freeman President Albert Heras Camargo -iolence in countryside onetary problems US interests in Colombia Relations with business community C1A operation Cuban missile crisis Harriman mission Ambassador Corry Oliver Dealing with Colombian government No drug problems ilitary attach9s Reaction to previous US military intervention Comments on US ambassadors US A1D mission E Alliance for Progress Peace Corps Traveling throughout Colombia eFico City, eFico 1967.1969 US relations with government C1A relations with government eFican relations with Cuba Philip Agee and C1A LBA:s brother:s problem Other agency activities Olympics in eFico eFican politics 1llegal immigration Narcotics problem and border closure INTERVIEW 3 ": Today is April 24, 1991. This is an interview with Henry Dearborn concerning his career. The interview is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and I(m Charles Stuart Kennedy. Mr. Dearborn, I wonder if you could tell me a little about your background. Where you born, where you grew up, where you were educated, what you were doing , DEARBORN, 1 was born in Lawrence, assachusetts in 1913. President Taft was president, if you can believe that. 1 went to Phillips.Andover to prep school and 1 went to Dartmouth to college and 1 went to Yale to graduate school. ": Do you remember the real New England establishment. DEARBORN, Yeah, and the only other educational institution 1 ever went to was the National War College much later. ": Well, when you were in, at Dartmouth, and even Andover, did foreign affairs play much of a role in your education or your thinking at the time/ DEARBORN, aybe my first interest was in an American History course at Andover. 1 had a very good teacher there. But he got me interested in history in general and then 1 got to Dartmouth and was a History major. And the international aspects of history when 1 went to Yale graduate school 1 got a asters in History, and then 1 switched to the 1nternational Relations Department. So, 1 was oriented that way by the time 1 got through school. ": When did you get through school/ DEARBORN, Well, graduate school, 1939. ": So a vintage year, World War II started. DEARBORN, y chief claim to fame when 1 got my asters was that another famous character got an honorary asters at the same time, and that was Walt Disney GlaughterH. ": 0laughter1 Well, what did you do when you got out of graduate school/ DEARBORN, 1 came to Washington to look for a job, because 1 didn:t know eFactly what 1 was going to do, but 1 did want to have something to do with foreign affairs and 1 didn:t know whether it would be journalism or government or what. So 1 just came in September of :39 job hunting and 1 got a job with the Foreign Policy Association, which had a, their main office is in New York, but they had a branch here in Washington. 1 don:t know whether they still do or not. 4 ": Well, what was the thrust and the atmosphere of the Foreign Policy Association/ I mean, you got a job, you start in September, WWII starts in September obviously American interest in foreign affairs all of a sudden, you know, went up. DEARBORN, Well, 1 was out of there before WW11, before our entry into the war. y job in the Foreign Policy Association was mainly being a leg.man around Washington for the manager of the office. He used to write a Washington news letter which covered what was going on, mainly in foreign affairs. After 1:d been there a year or so, 1 began to do some writing of my own. 1 got to know )uite a bit about the Washington offices that had to do with foreign affairs just running around to the Hill and to the government departments. So 1 told a fellow named Lou Clark, a fellow in the Commerce Department one day 1 was over there, if you ever hear of a job in government in Latin America let me know. And he said, well give me a resume and 1 hear of anything 1:ll let you know. Well, to me that was like, 1:ll never hear from this guy again, you know. Well 1 couldn:t believe it. One day, this was probably about the spring of :41, 1 had a call from the State Department, asking if 1:d be interested in being a vice consul in South America. So this Lou Clark, this was when they were scouring, they needed additional help. They:d formed what they call the AuFiliary Service. 1 don:t know if you know about that. ": 5eah, no, I(ve heard about this. DEARBORN, They started this AuFiliary Service to bring in some more people, and so they said come on over, and 1 went over and we talked about it, and they said okay we:ll give you a call when you:re supposed to go. Then 1 had another interesting development. 1:ve always claimed that a good part of my life was determined by an ingrown toenail, because 1 developed one and 1 had to go to old Dr. Riddick here. He looked at the toe and said, 1:ve got to operate on thisI And so he cut off a big piece of one side of the toe that was infected, and 1 was hobbling around on crutches. And 1 had been classified as a 1A in the draft. ": This means prime meat for the draft. DEARBORN, Yeah, so 1 actually got a greetings, report to Fort eade on such and such a day. So 1 went around to the draft board doctor, and 1 said 1 don:t know what to do about this, 1:m hobbling around on crutches, and 1 don:t know what you think. So he unwrapped the foot and said oooohh you can:t go, you can:t go marching around on a foot like that. So 1 said, what do we doJ Well, we wait until it gets better. 1 said well 1 have a problem here because the State Department, 1 eFpect a call from the State Department to go into the Foreign Service, and who gets me, the State Department or the draft boardJ And he said, well it:s very simple, if your toe gets better first, you:ll go with us, and if they call you first you go with them. And it wasn:t long after that the State Department called me. So that:s why 1 tell my wife and children, that 1 wouldn:t even know them if it hadn:t been for my ingrown toenail. Anyway, so in August of :41 1 went to Barran)uilla, Columbia as vice consul. 8 ": Well, before we move to that I wonder just, I don(t want to sound like an F6I agent, but the Foreign Affairs Association, frankly I(m not familiar with how it worked , DEARBORN, Foreign Policy Association. ": Foreign Policy Association. We were still going through with a sort of intellectual side, American was really entranced with the Soviet 7nion and all, although there was disillusionment because there were trials and things like this, but did you get any feel about how the Foreign Policy Association looked at the Soviet 7nion and the people around it at that time/ DEARBORN, You know, as 1 look back on my couple of years with them, they were European oriented, they didn:t pay too much attention to South America but they did have some things.