The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project JOHN EDGAR WILLIAMS Interviewed by: Dr. Anne R. Phillips Initial interview date: April 8, 1995 Copyright 1998 AD T TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in South Carolina .S. Army - Japan niversity of North Carolina; Yale niversity; (ictoria niversity )Wellington, Ne, -ealand. (isits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima bomb sites Department of Air Force 0ondon, 1ngland - Staff Aide2Consular Officer 1455-1456 Ambassador Winthrop Aldrich 7adrid, Spain - (isa21conomic Officer 1456-1460 1nvironment 7ilitary Base Agreement 9eneral Franco Spanish economy .S. Trade Catalan issues 0abor issues Security Recreation 1ducation and culture Ambassador John Davis 0odge Protocol matters Religious freedom issue National Service Don Juan Carlos Staffing and operations Social structure Catholic Church Buenos Aires, Argentina - 1conomic2Commercial Officer 1470-1475 Terrorism 1 Railroad equipment issue .S. trade and investment Ambassador John Davis 0odge Press Raul Prebisch )Thesis. =0iberation Theology“ 90OP Women in government State Department - Bureau of 1conomic Affairs - Italy 1460-1461 Duties and organization Italian leftists .S. economic interests State Department - Inter-American Affairs - Public Affairs Officer 1461-1462 Operation Boot Strap )Puerto Rico. Cuba Yale niversity, Ne, Haven, Connecticut - 1conomic Studies 1462-1463 Castro 7ontevideo, ruguay - 1conomic2Commercial Officer 1463-1466 0atin American Free Trade Association 1nvironment Contacts .S. interests Hoof and mouth disease 7arriage to a foreigner Soviet recruitment attempt Reporting State Department - Bureau of 1conomic and Business Affairs 1466-1470 Aftosa-ridden beef issue Auto manufacturers Duties and operations 9ATT 0AFTA 0oans to World Bank (ietnam 7aquiladora concept )7eCico. Trade policies Buenos Aires, Argentina - Commercial AttachD 1470-14EE Ambassador 0odge .S. trade opportunities 1nvironment 2 Peron legacy 7ilitary in government Fascism =Disapproved“ people Terrorist activity Personal protection Western terrorist targets Auckland, Ne, -ealand - Consul 9eneral 14EE-1478 Press relations Consular staff Relations ,ith embassy Politics 7aoris 1nvironment Anti-nuclear sentiment .S. nuclear ship issue .S.-Ne, -ealand land relations .S. business community Trade issues Gi,is Nelson Rockefeller visit (isitors 7argaret 7ead Polynesians Hueen Te Atairangikaahu )7aori. Speaking duties Ne, -ealand as Common,ealth member .S. bicentennial Otta,a, Canada - Commercial Officer 1478-1481 1nvironment NAFTA Duties Trade problems Anti- .S. sentiment French Canadians and .S. 7edia issues Automotive Agreement Society for American Wines Canadian cities Retirement 1481 Professor, niversity of North Carolina Comments 3 Favorite post Oral 1Cam 7inority quotas in Foreign Service Foreign Service as =elite“ Do, Chemical problem Foreign Service as a career INTERVIEW ": How did you decide to go in to Foreign ervice and what prompted you( WI00IA7SI When I ,as in High School I very much ,anted to be a career military officer. I ,anted to go to West Point. There ,ere three in my high school class ,ho ,ere really keen to go to West Point. The other t,o guys made it and I didnJt. 7y eyes ,ere not good enough. The summer that I ,as seventeen I came up to Raleigh from Wilmington and I ,ent to an eye doctor ,ho gave me all kinds of eCercises ,hich ,ere supposed to improve my eyes. 7y eye sight improved, but not enough. So, I could not make it to West Point because of my eyes. As soon as I ,as eighteen I enlisted in the army. They ,ould have drafted me any,ay, because it ,as just after World War II. World War II ,as over in September and I became eighteen in November. I ,ent in the Army as soon as I could. I ,ent to Officer Candidate School, became an officer in field artillery. I ,ent to Japan. Al Haig and myself and a fe, other soldiers occupied Japan. While I ,as in Japan I ,as still thinking of the army as a career, because, after all, here I ,as -- I had become an officer at the age of eighteen, ,hich you could do according to the World War II rules ,hich ,ere still in effect then. But, the more I sa, of the army, the more it became obvious to me that people ,ho ,ere not West Pointers ,ere at a disadvantage and ,ere going to stay at a permanent disadvantage. Of course, there are some prominent eCceptions that ,e all kno, about. I decided at the time I really enjoyed living in Japan. I just liked it. I canJt eCplain it very ,ell. ItJs just that I enjoyed meeting the Japanese people and talking to them. As a junior officer I ,as sent out on all kinds of little errands and missions out into the countryside that the more senior officers didnJt ,ant to be bothered ,ith. Such as, for eCample, P.O.W. searches to see ,hether if there ,ere any P.O.W.Js perhaps still around; graves registration of American Air Force people ,ho had been shot do,n and taken prisoner or ,ho had died in custody or ,hatever; and election observation. That last ,as a very interesting one, because shortly after I arrived, they had the first elections after the ,ar, just for provincial and municipal officials, not for any national offices, not for the diet. This ,as in February and 7arch of 1447. I headed a little team ,ay do,n in southern Gyushu. We used to kid each other that ,e ,ere so far south that the Japanese instead of saying Lohayo gozaimasu,L ,hich means Lgood morning,L they ,ould say Lohayo gozaimasu, you all.L ": How far from Tokyo was that( WI00IA7SI Oh my gosh. In miles, I donJt kno, if I can be very accurate. Something 4 like eight hundred miles perhaps. It ,as an entire t,enty-four hours on the train, because one of my little eCcursion jobs ,as taking to Tokyo groups of enlisted men ,ho ,ere going to be discharged and putting them on the ship to get them back to the nited States. I did that several times. But, this election observation ,as just fascinating, because the Japanese had no eCperience of democratic elections. Of course, ,e had said that ,omen ,ere going to be allo,ed to vote. This apparently ,as resisted a little bit at some levels in Japan. One of the jobs that I ,as supposed to do ,as make sure that ,omen ,ere voting and that they understood that they had the right to vote regardless of ,hat anybody said to them. So, I ,ould sho, up ,ith my team, ,hich consisted of me, a young Ha,aiian Nisei, second generation Japanese American, and the driver. That ,as my team. We ,ould sho, up at the election places and the Japanese authorities didnJt kno, ho, much Japanese ,e spoke or understood. 7y Ha,aiian young man spoke fairly elementary Japanese, but fairly fluently. I spoke just enough to sort of create the impression that I kne, more than I really did. 7y pronunciation and accent ,ere good. Any,ay, ,e did make an impression by going around and making sure that people kne, that ,e ,ere looking at them. 7aybe ,e ,erenJt seeing everything ,e should have, but people kne, that ,e ,ere there and ,e ,ere looking. I think the elections ,ent off very ,ell. In fact, I got a fe, votes for 9overnor of Gagoshima-Gen, the southern most province. They ,ere told that they didnJt have to vote for the people ,ho ,ere on the ballot. They could ,rite in names. So, 0ieutenant Williams got a fe, votes. 9ee, there ,ent my promising political career. IJm sorry, IJm going on at great length here, but the thing is, this is just to sort of underline the fact that I enjoyed living over there so much for all these reasons that I decided that perhaps the military ,as not the career that I ,as best suited for, but perhaps the Foreign Service ,as. So, from then on my education and everything I did ,as directed to,ard getting into the Foreign Service. ": It makes quite a bit of sense. I was just thinking about what your driver was driving, what sort of vehicle( -hat did it look like. WI00IA7SI A jeep. No, ,ait a minute, hang on, not a jeep. It ,as a Dodge three quarter ton. It ,as kind of like a jeep, but just bigger. You take a jeep and eCpand it. It ,as called a LWeapons Carrier.L ": -hat were the roads like or were there any( WI00IA7SI 0ousy. Oh sure, there ,ere roads most of the places ,e ,anted to go. I do remember once ,e took the ,rong road and it turned out that it sort of d,indled off into a co, path and ,e had a heck of a time backing up getting that Dodge back do,n the side of the mountain to get to the right polling place. 1verything over there at the time ,as just completely in shambles. It ,as utterly torn up. ": ay more about that, how, why, where( WI00IA7SI Well, ,e bombed everything, you kno,. Do,n ,here I ,as in Northern Gyushu,, no, there are several former cities ,hich have been sort of lumped together ,hich they no, call Gita Gyushu ,hich is North Gyushu. But ,e had bombed all of 5 those to,ns and cities, because they had ,ar production there. They had ,ar production all over the place. Of course, in Tokyo, there ,ere just so fe, buildings left and the famous 9inza ,as ro,s of shacks along the street ,hich ,ere stores and shops, but made out of scrap ,ood. The Japanese ,ere slo,ly beginning to rebuild, but very slo,ly at the time. Of course, ,hen I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they ,ere still utterly devastated, no rebuilding had begun that I could see.