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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR RUSH W. TAYLOR, JR. Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 1, 2009 Copyright 2010 ADS TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Arkansas raised in Texas. The Great Depression Racial segregation Harvard College University of (irginia Law School US Army Heidelberg and Geneva Averell Harriman ,ntered the Foreign Service in 19.2 0aound12 Cameroon Rotation Officer 19.2319.5 Ambassador Leland Barrows Decoloni5ation of Africa ,nvironment Ahmadou Ahidjo The French Government Libreville2 Gabon 6temporary assignment7 Death of President 8ennedy US Ambassadors Inspection Courier plane crash mission pouch Ambassador and Mrs. Randolph 8idder State Department: FSI Italian language training 19.5 Meeting future wife2 Joanna Bellows Marriage Rome2 Italy: Staff Assistant to Ambassador Frederick Reinhardt 19.5319.7 Ambassador and Mrs. Reinhardt ,mbassy environment ,mbassy social life Florence2 Italy Administrative Officer 19.7 1 State Department: Italy Desk Officer 19.7319.8 Wells Stabler Norfolk2 (irginia: Army Staff College 19.8 State Department: ,xecutive Secretariat Line Officer2 ,urope 19.931972 and Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary 8enneth Rush ,nvironment Middle ,ast talks Secretary of State William Rogers 8issinger Operations State Department FSI: Portuguese language training 1972 Oporto2 Portugal: Consul 197231975 ,conomy ,nvironment US Military Mission British influence Demographics Local government Catholic Church Students SpainAPortugal relations SB Carneiro Local politics Barbara Watson visit Coup dC1tat 6Revolution of the Red Carnations7 Ambassador Ridgeway 8night ,mbassy Carlucci Communists General Spinola American business presence Political parties President Soares Portuguese military Nassau2 Bahamas: Deputy Chief of Mission 197.31979 US Ambassadors ,nvironment Crime Lyndon Pindling British 2 (isa fraud National War College 197931980 State Department: Office of the Inspector General 198031982 Operations State Department: Bureau of Public Affairs Junior Spokesman 198231984 Operations State Department: Office of the Director General 19843198. Communications Information Policy 6CIP7 Diana Lady Dougan Congressman Dante Fascell Information Programs Operations Radio Marti Cuban Americans Guinea3Bissau Deputy Chief of Mission 6Acting7 198.31988 Russian Ambassador ,nvironment Ambassador to Togo 198831991 ,nvironment Briefing by the French in Paris ,thnic groups History of Togo Phosphates President Gnassigb1 ,yad1ma ,conomic Community of West African States 6,COWAS7 French West Africa Human Rights ,mbassy staff Infrastructure ,conomy German culture USIA Human Rights Commission Government Religions Military Foreign Ambassadors Libyans AmbassadorsC conference ,yad1maCs visit to US 3 Beating of young student issue Changes in Togo Retirement 1991 Private mining firm 6CBG72 operating in West Africa US3Angola Chamber of Commerce ,Guator Bank representative in Washington Comments on developments in West Africa INTERVIEW HNote: This interview was not edited by Mr. Taylor prior to his death.I Q: oday is the First of April, 2009. his is an interview with Rush, that&s R-(-S-), W., stands for Walker, aylor, -A-,---.-R, Jr. And let&s start at the beginning. Well first, the beginning, what does the Walker stand for, and the Rush0 TA0LOR: Okay. My family2 my fatherCs side of the family2 comes from a little town in northern Mississippi2 Corinth2 Mississippi2 itCs called2 which was one of the big battles in the Civil War. Q: What was the name of it0 TA0LOR: Corinth. C3O3R3I3N3T3H. Q: .h, yes, yes, yes. hat&s where- TA0LOR: One of the bloodiest battles of the war there. General Grant was coming down from 8entucky2 down the Tennessee River2 Corinth was a major railroad depot it had the Charleston3Memphis going one way and the Mobile3Ohio going another. So by taking this little railroad junction they could strike their2 you know2 the process of splitting the South in two. Q: And moving towards 2icksburg. TA0LOR: And one group went to down to (icksburg and the other went to Chattanooga and then to Atlanta. And thatCs where my family settled in the 1830s2 my fatherCs side of the family. They were from (irginia. They were Juakers and my great3great3grandfather was set very much on education. He wanted his kids2 even though he had a lot of them2 and their mother died when most of them were still fairly young2 he really2 really did everything he could to educate his kids. He moved from (irginia2 up here in Loudoun County where he was born2 down to Petersburg and then he got married in North Carolina and they worked a farm there and then Georgia and then from Georgia3 and the 4 city opened up2 they moved out there and got several thousand acres of land. Unfortunately2 the land wasnCt very good but they prospered to an extent. And he was able to send my great3grandfather off to Philadelphia. He wanted to be a physician and at that time there was something called the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia2 which was one of the best in the country. He has written2 this great3grandfather2 a history of his life and times and all the Civil War stuff and going north. He talks about going up the Tennessee River and then up the Ohio River and taking a train from2 I guess it was Southern Cincinnati up to Cleveland and then taking a train from Cleveland3 no2 I guess he took the ferry3 what do you call the thingK The ,ric Canal2 riverboat2 all the way to Albany and then down to New 0ork and he finally gets to Philadelphia and studies medicine and he comes back the other way2 through Charleston2 South Carolina2 of all places. 0ou asked where the name LRushM came from. One of his professors was a Dr. Benjamin Rush. Q: 2ery well known. TA0LOR: Right. He had founded the school2 actually. He was a good friend of Thomas Jefferson. He signed the Declaration of Independence for Pennsylvania. Actually2 his son later3 Richard Rush2 became our ambassador to Great Britain. But the Rush family were still very2 very involved with Jefferson College and he so admired Dr. Rush that he named one of his sons Rush and thatCs how I got that name. Q: And the Walker0 TA0LOR: The Walkers were2 during the Civil War2 it was my grandmotherCs side of the family. He was a colonel and a big shot in northern Mississippi and Guite active in politics. That area is known as Tishomingo County2 thatCs a northern part of Mississippi up Alabama and Tennessee on the corners they didnCt want to secede from the Union2 they wanted to stay part of the Union2 the reason being the land up there was not amenable to slaves2 to having slaves2 and most of the population was slave3less. Unfortunately2 I regret to say2 my great3great3grandfather had about 100 or so slaves and they werenCt freed until well into the war when General Grant finally came through. 0ou talk about that era and itCs hard to accept things that were going on then but apparently the people2 the slaves that worked for my great3great3grandfather2 were so devoted to him that2 you know2 this sounds like the violin strings or something2 that they stayed on with him until his death. Then they took part of his land2 they were given part of his land2 and so thatCs how that side of the family went on. My motherCs family2 also from (irginia2 came down in 18.8 or 18702 right after the Civil War2 to southern Arkansas and again2 were farmers and thatCs where my father met my mother. My father2 when he was in first year at University of Mississippi2 his father2 who was also a physician2 Dr. Charles Taylor2 died of diabetes and my father had to leave college and get a job. The biggest employer in Corinth2 Mississippi2 at that time was the Curly Clothing Company they made menCs suits and whatnot. They had moved out of 5 making Confederate clothing2 they moved up to Memphis and then to St. Louis and actually was one of the biggest clothing manufacturers in the country at that time. So out of pity or whatever they gave my father a job and his first job was selling clothing in Arkansas2 where he met my mother. And as a result I ended up being born2 second of two kids2 in Little Rock. Q: When were you born0 TA0LOR: Nineteen thirty3four2 November 32 1934. Q: Were your mother and father, either of them, your father finished college0 TA0LOR: My mother didnCt go to college and my father did not finish. My father was the first in about three generations that didnCt finish college. Q: It&s interesting because I&m still talking to people who, which includes myself, who are of a generation where the ma4ority of their parents weren&t college graduates. TA0LOR: Neither one of my parents went to college. But as I say2 there had been2 on both sides of the family2 particularly on my fatherCs side2 I always got the feeling that my fatherCs side of the family looked down upon my motherCs side. They had been doctors and they had gone to ,urope and2 you know2 were educated in the North and all that sort of stuff. They had bigger houses and a lot more sterling teapots and whatnot. Q: Were you from a big family0 TA0LOR: No. My father had a brother and a sister. Actually my mother had something like seven brothers2 seven or eight brothers and sisters. And they all did rather well. Her elder brother founded a company2 helped found a company called Salton Rice2 which was one of the largest rice producers in southern Arkansas. Her twin sister married a guy who became the secretary3 not secretary of state2 state treasurer of Arkansas for years and years. And her younger sister put herself through Little Rock High School2 the same old Central High School that we saw on T( back in the N50s.