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 JAMES D. PHILLIPS Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: May 5, 1998 Copyright 2 1 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Family Born in Peoria, llinois; raised there and in Wichita, Kansas U.S. Army Wichita State University; University of Colorado; University of (ienna, Austria (olunteer - refugee aid in Austria Cornell University Entered Foreign Service - 1,-1 State Department - Personnel - Training 1,-1-1,-. A-100 course Training assignments Paris, France - 0otation Officer1Assistant to Am2assador 1,-.-1,-3 French attitudes and policy U.S.-French relations De 4aulle Am2assador Bohlen policy Staff Congressional delegations Kennedy assassination Eli5a2ethville 67u2um2ashi8, Congo - Consul 1,-3-1,-7 Mo2utu regime Belgians U.S. policy Copper mining Operation Dragon 0ouge TDY - Acting consul in Kisangani Anarchy Bo2 Denard 6mercenary8 Am2assador McBride Bukavu destruction 1 Bill Harrop Contacts Tri2al influence Organi5ation of African Unity Soviet Union influence State Department - Foreign Service nstitute [FS ] 1,-8-1,-, State Department - Bureau of European Affairs [EU0] - Economic Affairs 1,-,-1,70 Economic Community issue Frances Wilcox Atomic Energy Commission EEC Oakridge, Tennessee uranium plant AEA EU0ATOM competition 4ermany attitude Missing uranium shipment (ietnam nspection Team 1,70 Junior officer inspectors Corruption Environment U.S. military presence State Department - EU0 1,70-1,71 Paris, France - Political Officer1Executive Assistant 1,71-1,73 Contacts Elections - 1,7. Am2assador Watson Environment Politicians Communists U.S.-French relations (ietnam De 4aulleAs French pride De 4aulleAs Btout a5imutC De 4aulle-Kissinger rivalry Kissinger views of Europe Mitterrand Communists French press French intellectuals French sensitivities 2 Travel grants Am2assador rwin Am2assador Kenneth 0ush 7uxem2ourg - Deputy Chief of Mission 1,73-1,78 Am2assador 0uth 7. Farkas Am2assador 0osemary 4inn 0elations Environment Am2assador Jim 7owenstein Banking 4am2ia - Chief of Mission 1,78-1,80 Environment UE voting Peace Corps A D Copenhagen, Denmark - UE nternational WomenAs Conference - Temporary Duty 1,80 (ivian Derryck Ara2- srael issue South Africa issue ssues Pro2lems Fionism 0acism Conference outcome WomenAs movement Eational War College 1,80-1,81 State Department - nternational Organi5ations [ O] 1,81-1,84 0eagan UE policy UEESCO Eew World nformation Order Eancy Clark 0eynolds Helene (an Damm Mexico City Conference Tashkent Conference Diana Dougan Mahtar MABow UEESCOAs deficiencies and pro2lems U.S. leaves UEESCO - 1,84 4regory Newell Delegation personnel 3 Olympic boycott - 1,80 Soviet youth Maureen 0eagan Copenhagen Conference Allan Keys Casa2lanca, Morocco 1,84-1,8- Am2assador Joseph (ernon 0eed King Hassan Polisario revolution Hadhafi Algerian support of Polisario Jean 4erard Burundi - Am2assador 1,8--1,,0 0eagan interview Am2assador President Communist presence UE voting Environment Ethnic tensions Hutus Tutsis Poverty A D program Peace Corps issue Catholic Church Coup dAItat U.S.-Burundi relations President Buyoya mproving relations 0efugee camps South Africa influence Council for National 0econciliation Hutu-Tutsi massacres Casualties Press reporting 0efugees return President Ndadaye assassinated Eorth Korea presence Belgian influence U.S. influence Chinese em2assy David Dunn 6DCM8 A DS 4 Congo 6Bra55aville8 - Am2assador 1,,0-1,,. U.S. interests Soviet influence President Sassou Nguesso Oil Elf Oil Company 6French8 Environment Wedding extravagan5a Communist decline C A Mo2utu Faire 7a2or dispute Eational Conference U.S. assistance Prime Minister 6 nterim8 Milongo Elections President Pascal 7issou2a 4overnment formation difficulties Eew elections Conflict French government activity Occidental-Elf rivalry 7issou2aAs coalition government (iolence Evacuation 6partial8 Partial reconciliation U.S. policy concerning French in Africa Educational level Military versus civilian elements Atlanta, 4eorgia - Carter Center - Diplomat in 0esidence 1,,.-1,,4 Center activities Staff of Center Eorth Korea intervention William 4allucci Carter personality Sudan Ethiopia 0etirement 1,,4 Dan Phillips and Associates H.M. Salaam Foundation Central African Foundation Jane 4oodall nstitute 5 INTERVIEW $: Today is May 5, 1998 and this is an interview with %ames D. Phillips. )ou are known as Dan, though, isn+t that right, PH 77 PS: That is right. $: This is being done for the Asso.iation for Diplomati. Studies and Training and I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. Could you tell me when and where you were born and something about your family, PH 77 PS: 7et me provide a brief prologue. n the interest of full disclosure should say that am adding this paragraph after finishing the interview. When looked it over found there was very little in it a2out my family. Perhaps thatAs as it should be. After all, this is not a comprehensive auto2iography but rather an account of the institutions, the people, the issues, and the situations encountered as a professional diplomat. Still, it is important to acknowledge the role my family played in my career. They were an integral part of the adventure and they shared fully in - indeed they were in many ways responsi2le for - most of my successes. My first wife, 0osemary 7eeds Phillips, helped me greatly during the early years. n graduate school she typed my papers, took care of our children and supported us with part-time jo2s. She was with me in Washington, Paris, 7u2um2ashi, Kinshasa, and 7uxem2ourg. She was a super2 BForeign Service wife,C in all that that implied in terms of dedication and sacrifice. Our marriage didnAt survive the stresses that nearly constitute an occupational ha5ard in the Foreign Service, but would not have made it through the first half of my career without her. Our three children, Michael, Madolyn and Catherine, enjoyed the advantages of living a2road 2ut they also suffered the disadvantages. Michael was in seven different schools before he was 14 years oldK They were intelligent, inLuisitive and adapta2le children though, and they rose to the challenges of a nomadic existence magnificently. t would have been much less satisfying and much less fun without them. n 1,84 married 7ucie Colvin Phillips. She is a linguist, a scholar, and one of AmericaAs foremost experts on African social and economic history. She contri2uted immensely to the second half of my career. Her two sons, my stepsons, Charlie and David Colvin, added a new and happy dimension to my life. There were others; my father, my stepmother, my sisters Patricia Daniels and 0osemary Partridge, my aunt Madolyn, my in-laws, other relatives and a maid1nanny named Minnie, all who helped me along the way. t didnAt Luite take a village to get me where am, but it sure took an extended family. To go back to your Luestion, was born in Peoria, llinois in 1,... My mother died when was six months old and was raised by my father, who was an executive with Phillips Petroleum Company, and by my stepmother Marie Phillips, who my father married when was a2out four. n 1,41, at the beginning of the Second World War, we moved to Wichita, Kansas where lived until went into the army in 1,3.. 6 $: /here did you go to grammar s.hool, PH 77 PS: went to Catholic grammar schools in Peoria and Wichita. $: I am trying to .apture some so.ial history be.ause its important to know who you are. 0ow did you find your edu.ation at the elementary s.hool level in the Catholi. s.hools, PH 77 PS: think elementary-level education suffered during the war because of a shortage of teachers and personnel of all kinds. My early years in Peoria were fine but when got to Wichita the war effort was draining resources away from both pu2lic and private schools. We were taught by nuns who normally would have retired earlier. $: I was in that era, too, and I saw that a lot of retired people .ame ba.k to work and it really showed. PH 77 PS: Yes, and we did not have any extras then. donAt remem2er having an art class or music class. Budgets were cut to the bone 2ecause of the war. $: 1efore you went to high s.hool did you read mu.h, PH 77 PS: was read to very much as a child by the adults in my life and when learned to read on my own was captivated by childrenAs literature. remem2er reading the entire Tar5an series. $: )ou went to a Catholi. high s.hool as well, PH 77 PS: Yes, went to Wichita Cathedral High School. By that time it was the post- war period but there were still teacher shortages. After a few years my family decided it would be better to try a private school and transferred to a Benedictine school in Canyon City, Colorado. graduated from the Holy Cross A22y school of Canyon City. $: /e are going to talk about foreign affairs eventually. )ou were really in the heartland of the 2nited States. Did foreign affairs intrude mu.h into your life, PH 77 PS: Not at all. didnAt learn any languages. studied a little Spanish. At that point in my life didnAt dream of going into the Foreign Service. $: /hat year did you graduate, PH 77 PS: graduated in 1,30 $: )ou graduated in June 195 , whi.h is an important month be.ause of the Korean /ar. /hat did you do then, PH 77 PS: had started grade school a year early than most children, you have that choice when you are born in Fe2ruary, and was only 17 when graduated from high 7 school. enrolled in college but was not really prepared for college. spent a couple of years at Wichita State University and then transferred to the University of Colorado, but did not do well. $: /ere you ma3oring in anything, PH 77 PS: was majoring in li2eral arts. n 1,3., transferred back to Wichita State University. had passed the draft deferral examination but made the mistake of not taking enough credit hours to keep my deferral and in 1,3.