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 F. MACK Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 20, 2004 Copyright 2007 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in onnecticut, raised in New York State ornell University Peace orps' Siguatepe(ue, Honduras 1963,1965 State Department. A,100 ourse 1965,1966 State Department' FS0' 1ietnamese language training 1966 1ietnam. Provincial 2eporting Officer 1966,1969 Service in Saigon, Nha Trang, Danang 3 4ui Nhon South 5oreans US Force Buildup orruption Tet Offensive 67ar and Peace,agram8 Ni9on visit 1ietcong State Department' 0N2' South 1ietnam 0ntelligence analyst 1969,1971 North 1ietnamese offensive US Force level reduction 1iet ong San Jose, osta 2ica' Political/Labor Officer 1971,1972 TDY' South 1ietnam. Paris Peace Accords monitor 1972,1973 Family Environment 0ntelligence 2eports 0nternational ontrol ommission North 1ietnamese buildup 1 6Easter Offensive8 orruption Speculation re Peace Accord Success San Jose, osta 2ica' Political/Labor Officer 1973,1975 United Fruit ompany Environment State Department' FS0' Portuguese language training 1975 Sao Paulo, BraAil' Political/Labor Officer 1975,1977 Labor unions 0gnacio 6Lulu8 da Silva Economic development ommunist Party Security BraAilian military Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel 0sland, AAores' onsul 1977,1979 Lajes Air Force Base 2elations PortugalCs leftist leanings ommunists AAorean independence movement US military Family 1isas Environment State Department' Duatemala/BeliAe Desk Officer 1979,19E1 Border issues British US assistance to Duatemala Sandinistas Human 2ights issues BeliAe independence movement Duatemala security State Department' hief, Labor Management Division 19E1,19E3 AFSO and AFDE Bargaining issues El Salvador, San Salvador' Political ounselor 19E3,19E6 Environment 0nsurgency Death S(uads 2 Draft special envoy proposal issue ODELs President Napoleon Duarte election Salvador military Elections Nicaragua Meeting leftists Asuncion, Paraguay' Deputy hief of Mission 19E6,19E9 2elations Dictator Stroessner Human 2ights olorado Party Energy independence Politics Deneral 2odrigueA coup Peace orps orruption Department of State Director, Office of Andean Affairs 19E9,1991 Medellin Drug artel US Assistance to olombia Andean Drug Summit Meeting olombian judge protection US narcotics consumption 4uito, Ecuador' Deputy hief of Mission 1991,1994 Economics Petroleum production Political leftists Environment Security Military US interests Elections Peace orps Lima, Peru' Deputy hief of Mission 1994,1997 Family oca production 2evolutionary movements 1ladimiro Lenin Montesinos President Fujimori Narcotics traffic US aid Human 2ights 3 Peruvian Air Force Peru,Ecuador territorial dispute M2TA guerilla attacks Security Embassy hostages Lori Berenson case Ambassador to Duyana 1997,2000 History Janet Jagan election A20 OM Political Parties Emigration US interests Soviet embassy 1eneAuela border issue Former Jamestown colony Peace orps 1isa sale case State Department' hief, Plan olombia Task Force 2000 oordination of US support State Department' Bureau of 0nternational Narcotics 3 Law Enforcement 2000 US support for Plan olombia State Department. Deputy Assistant Secretary' 0NL Air 7ing 2000,2002 for Latin America Support for US ounter Narcotics Programs USA0D Plan olombia assistance Bureau of 0nternational Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs INTERVIEW Q: Today is the 20th of March 2004, this is an interview with James F. Mac). This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and I am Charles Stewart Kennedy. You go by Jim? MA 5. Yes. Q: ,h Right. /ell to begin with when and where were you born? MA 5. 7ell 0 was born in 1941 in Norwalk, onnecticut. 4 Q: Can you tell me a little about your father0s side of the family? MA 5. 7ell, my father actually was born in 7ashington, D and he graduated from a High School in 7ashington and went off to ornell to study Mechanical Engineering. He graduated in 1929, not a good year. Q: Not a good year. MA 5. Not a good year. He graduated 3 months before the stock market crash of 1929 and the onset of the Dreat Depression. He worked a year as an engineer in a silk mill in onnecticut. Then, like all the other newly hired, he was first fired. So, he went back to 7ashington, lived with his parents and went to law school at night at Deorge 7ashington University and worked in a law office by day. He became a patent lawyer and moved back up to Norwalk, onnecticut, where he went into practice, met my mother who was a 6Yankee8, and got married in 1937. My sister was born in 1940 and 0 in 1941. Shortly after 0 was born, my family moved to 2ye, New York, where 0 grew up. Q: /hat was life li)e for you in Rye? /hat was Rye li)e for you in those days? MA 5. 0t was a good place to grow up. 2ye is a small town in 7estchester ounty on Long 0sland Sound about 25 miles from Times S(uare. You can see the New York skyline. 7hile 2ye is close to New York, it has a small town atmosphere, good public schools, a public golf course, a public marina, and a public beach, nature preserves etc. So it remains a very nice place to grow up, a really, safe environment. Q: The schools, you went through the public school system? MA 5. 0 went through the 10th grade in the public school system. Then 0 went away to boarding school for 7illiston Academy in East Hampton, Massachusetts for 11th and 12th grades. Q: Lets stic) to the Rye thing. /hat sort of thing in elementary school interested you, reading, e3tra4curriculum things, particular studies? MA 5. Elementary goes way back. Of course, 0 was a kid, so 0 liked sports, especially football.. 0 played the tuba in the school band. 0 was always interested in geography and those kinds of things. By 5th and 6th grade 0 was interested in international affairs. 0 canCt remember how young 0 was, but 0 still remember watching a bright young political science professor from olombia or NYU who appeared fre(uently on television talking about the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. His name was Hbigniew BrAeAinski. So, 0 always had this kind of fascination with international affairs issues as a kid. Q: By the time you got to High School were you able to do anything with International ffairs. 5 MA 5. Not really. 0 was a pretty normal kid. 0 played in the band then football. Q: /hile you were in Rye did you ever get in to New Yor) to the 71 or anything li)e that? MA 5. Oh sureI 0 mean as a kid living in the suburbs we went into New York for one thing or another' and, of course, we did the standard, 6letCs go see the UN8 kind of tour. And 0 do remember following major developments at the UN. 0 remember listening to the 0sraeli Ambassador to the UN Abba Eban make his elegant speeches in British English. Q: /hy did you go to /illiston? MA 5. My 10th grade was a little bit dramatic. 0n the Fall 0 had my jaw broken in two places during football practice. During my recuperation, with my jaw wired shut, 0 lost 20 pounds in a month because 0 could only take li(uids. And 0 was not overweight to begin with. And 0 wasnCt really doing that well in school. Half way through the school year my father said 67ell Jim, maybe you would want to go away to school for your last two years of high school. Since 0 was off the football team and kind of out of it for a long time, 0 was willing to do that. 0ronically, 0 played football during my two years at boarding school. To get into 7illiston, 0 had to go to its summer school to improve my writing skills. 0 had an absolutely marvelous English teacher who really e9cited me in writing. ertain teachers have tremendous effects on you. Q: /hat was his name? MA 5. His last name was 2obinson. 7e called him Mr. 2obinson. He was very enthusiastic about his subject, would stand on his desk and (uote poetry. Actually 0 really learned how to write in the Foreign Service, but of course that is a different form of writing. But 7illiston gave me the basics and had a big impact. Not that 0 particularly liked being there. 0n fact, for many years thereafter, my best friends remained those 0 grew up with in 2ye. But 7illiston gave me a good academic base, taught me how to study, and 0 was able to get into ornell University. 0 majored in Political Science there, which at ornell is known as 6 Dovernment8. 7e had absolutely superb professors in that particular field, ornell, and that e9perience also whetted my appetite for international affairs. Q: You went to Cornell from when to when? MA 5. 1959 to 1963. Q: /hy Cornell? MA 5. 7ellI My father had gone to ornell. 7e did look at a few other schools but 0 visited the ornell campus, liked it and actually applied nowhere else. 0 canCt imagine doing that today. But ornell advised 7illiston that if 0 applied 0 would be accepted. 0t 6 was a very simple process. That is why 0 went to ornell. 0t could have gone someplace else but ornell just made sense to me. Q: /ould you say that Cornell at that time had a pretty diverse student body that time? MA 5. 0t was diverse in terms of international students, but in terms of U.S. citiAens it was overwhelmingly white. Q: You too) courses mainly in Political Science? MA 5. Yes, mostly Political Science, History that kind of thing. Q: Cornell at one point had 9uite a reputation for its courses in Southeast Asia and Indonesia? MA 5.