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TRINIDAD & TOBAGO COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Jean Mary Wilkowski 1945-1450 Vice Consul, Port-of-Spain Stanley Sc iff 1955-1956 Economic/Labor Officer, Port-of-Spain P ilip A. Habib 1958-1960 Political Officer, Port-of-Spain Victor Niemeyer 1969-1970 Public Affairs Officer, .SIS Port-of-Spain Wade Matt ews 1970-1971 Political Officer, Port-of-Spain Mic ael M. Ma oney 1971-1974 Counselor Officer, Port-of-Spain Jay P. Moffat 1971-1974 2eputy C ief of Mission, Port-of-Spain 3obert 4. 3ic 1971-1977 2eputy C ief of Mission, Port-of-Spain Ant ony 2. Mars all 1971-1973 Ambassador, Trinidad 7 Tobago T omas Macklin, Jr. 1973-1975 2esk Officer, Trinidad, 9arbados 7 West Indies, Was ington, 2C Sara Horsey-9arr 1973-1976 Visa Officer, Port-of-Spain Jo n H. Adams 1976-1979 Consul 4eneral, Port-of-Spain 3ic ard :. Fox, Jr. 1977-1979 Ambassador, Trinidad 7 Tobago Jonat an 9. 3ickert 1977-1980 Labor 3eporting Officer, Port-of-Spain 3obert :. 4eis 1978-1983 Public Affairs Officer, .SIS, Port-of-Spain Jonat an 9. 3ickert 1980-1981 2esk Officer for Trinidad, 4uyana and Surinam, Was ington, 2C Lawrence H. Hydle 1983-1985 Political Officer, Port-of-Spain S eldon 2. :rys 1985-1988 Ambassador, Port-of-Spain Lacy A. Wrig t 1988-1991 2eputy C ief of Mission, Port-of-Spain Sally 4rooms Cowal 1991-1994 Ambassador, Trinidad 7 Tobago Jo n Allen Cus ing 1007-1009 C ief, Political Section, Port-of-Spain JEAN MARY WILKOWSKI Vice Consul ort-of-Spain (1945-1950- Ambassador Jean Wilkowski entered the Foreign Service in 1944. Her career included assignments in Trinidad Colombia Italy France Chile Swit$erland Honduras and an ambassadorship to Zambia. Ambassador Wilkowski was interviewed by Willis Armstrong in 1989. Q: Let)s go back to Trinidad now. What did you do in Trinidad and what was it like* WIL:OWS:I: Well, I was, as t ey told me, a vice consul in Port- of-Spain, Trinidad, t en a 9ritis Crown Colony. T e office consisted of Consul Claude Hall (t ere for 7 yearsA and myself. T at was t e staff plus 4-5 locals. He told me e ated s ipping and all t ese over- bearing sea captains w o come in ere and cursed all over t e place. BCou take t em over,B e ordered. I was supposed to c arm and Duiet t em, I guess. T ey ad different problems. T e most amusing was t e fact t at most of t em ad venereal disease and t ey ad to be cured before t ey got to t e States. So t e captain would come in, em and aw, until I finally asked, BIs it t e usual, CaptainEB He would say, BCea .B So IFd sign t e seamen off t e s ip, to send t em out to t e ..S. Naval 9ase or ospital for t e 1 weeks treatment. T en IFd sign t em back on t e s ip. I also visaed t e crew list, mediated union disputes, etc. Once during a union dispute t e Captain refused to do anyt ing until I signed off some of t e offending crew so t e s ip could sail to t e ..S. I also did general consular work--citiGens ip for Americans, visas for Trinidadians. I ad fun wit t at. Once I told some calypso singers going to t e ..S. t at one of t e reDuirements was t ey sing for t e Consulate before t ey got t eir visa to prove t at, indeed, t ey ad a profession and were legitimately en route to make recordings. So we used to ave t ese mini-concerts in t e Consulate. HLaug terI In t e meantime, poor old Consul Claude Hall was in t e back room doing w atever e did--a lot of political work related to t e ..S.-.: base agreement wit its legal problems. President 3oosevelt ad exc anged over- age ..S. destroyers--were t ey 46 or 67 destroyers--for some strategic war- time bases in t e Caribbean. We ad a big naval base--MacDueryie--on t e nort coast. Q: One of them was Trinidad. WIL:OWS:I: Ces. Trinidad was one of t em. T ere was also Waller Field in t e middle of t e island--t e longest maintenance line in t e ..S. Army Air Corps. Indeed, my brot er--a pilot-- ad stopped t ere on is way to nort Africa and Europe. We also ad an Army 2ocksite s ipping base on Trinidad--3-5 maJor installations in all. So t e Consul did all of t e base negotiation wit t e 9ritis Colonial 4overnment and wit t e ..S. armed forces t ere in Trinidad. I did all t e ot er consular work alone, some economic reporting. T ere is a lot of cacao down t ere, as you know. 2uring t e war some American candy companies w ic ad gotten t eir coconut supplies elsew ere came to Trinidad. I remember t e Peter Paul people were looking for coconut for t eir candy bars. T ere were also exports of lime juice, and small commercial transactions. Finally, we ad muc to do wit t e first maJor cras of a Pan American Airways Clipper plane, including loss of American lives. Q: What about oil* Were they e-porting oil from Trinidad at that point* WIL:OWS:I: Not as extensively as in later years. It was pretty muc a limited 9ritis concession. I visited t e oil fields, w ic were down in t e sout of t e island. 9ut oil was a minor t ing at t at time before t e big strikes and exports w ic came later. Q: .es. The fuels didn)t really come into production until later. WIL:OWS:I: T e oil boom for Trinidad came in t e late F60s or early F70s, if I recall. Q: So your shipping was not tanker shipping. It was just miscellaneous. WIL:OWS:I: No. No tankers but big merc ant s ips from Africa, but more importantly bauxite trans ipment from t en 9ritis 4uiana, and a lot of s ipping captains would give me t e eye and say, BW y donFt you come down to 9.4. and see t e monkeys.B I wasnFt too keen on going down t ere eit er for monkeys or monkey s ines. Q: .ou should have gone. It)s a fascinating place. I visited there. WIL:OWS:I: No. I ad one experience on a s ip out of Trinidad bound for New Orleans. I was a work-away and t e only woman on board, but I didnFt ave t at experience to guide me. It was Just instinct t at said, B9etter not go down to 9.4. as a guest of t e captain.B Q: Instinct is always a good guide. 0Laughter1 WIL:OWS:I: So, at any rate, t atFs w at I did in Trinidad. STANLEY D. SC/IFF Economic1La2or Officer ort-of-Spain (1955-1953- Stanley D. Schiff was born in New Jersey in 1925. He received his Bachelor7s degree from Rutgers 9niversity in 1948 and his Master7s Degree from Columbia 9niversity the following year. He served as a First Lieutenant overseas in the 9S Army from 1943 to 1946. Entering the Foreign Service in 1949 his postings include Baden Strasbourg Liverpool Trinidad Pakistan and Brussels. Schiff was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy on November 9 2000. A: Today is January 3 2001. Stan 1955: Trinidad. .ou were there until when* SCHIFF: From 1955 for not muc over a year. A: What were you doing in Trinidad* SCHIFF: I was t e economic and labor officer. At t at time, t e consulate in w at was t en 9ritis 4uyana ad been closed, so we also ad jurisdiction over 9ritis 4uyana as well as Trinidad. A: Trinidad at that point was not independent. SCHIFF: It was still a colony. It was on t e t res old of becoming independent. A: How would you describe the situation in Trinidad at the time* SCHIFF: It made an interesting contrast wit 9ritis 4uyana. T at was one of t e more notewort y t ings. T e population, t e demograp ics of bot t e island and 9ritis 4uyana, were Duite similar. T ere was a roug ly even split between Indians w o ad come as indentured servants and blacks w o were originally slaves. T en t ere was a small number of Europeans and also C inese. In t at sense, t ey were bot Duite similar. 9ut t eir development ad been different. T ere ad been serious racial tension in 9ritis 4uyana. T ere ad not been in Trinidad. Not t at everyt ing was by any means totally armonious, bu t e relations between Indians and Africans was reasonably good. I suppose t e main concerns at t at time were really twofold. One was t e economic prospects for t e island. T e ot er was its political future, w et er it would gain its independence. I donKt remember exactly w en t at appened, but it did in t e not too distant future. A: Was there a leadership developing in Trinidad at the time* SCHIFF: Ces, t ere was.

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