The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR ROBERT A. STEVENSON Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: September 19, 1989 Copyright 1998 ADS TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Uni ersity of North Carolina Na y ser ice in WWII Foreign Ser ice exam San Jose, Costa Rica 194,-19.0 Training and tra el to post Consular officer 1940 Figueres re olt Support for Figueres Communist insurrection Alex Cohen 1uaya2uil, Ecuador 19.0-19.2 Situation in Ecuador Political situation Relations with embassy Impressions of Foreign Ser ice 7atin American as 8minor league9 D:sseldorf, 1ermany 19.2-19., Political officer The Stahlhelm Democracy in West 1ermany The CDU and SPD Connections with socialists Washington 19.,-1961 Masters at Har ard East-West trade Head of Middle America branch of INR 7ack of knowledge about Castro in 19.0 1 7atin America as a 8side show9 for the CIA 7ack of concern about Castro Batista and the US E ents in Cuba Dealings with the Barbudos Castro isit US aid offers to Castro Raul Castro Castro and Perestroika State 7atin American policy The Bay of Pigs Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs Mistakes after the Bay of Pigs The Dominican Republic Other Caribbean problems National War College 1961-1962 August 1962 NIE on missiles in Cuba Santiago, Chile 1962-196. Political counselor Situation in Chile 1964 Frei ictory American interests in Chile So iet support to Allende American business interests The Chilean military Washington 196.-196, Cuban Affairs Coordinator US-Cuban relations in 196. Economic pressure on Cuba Interests sections Cuban refugees CIA intelligence of Cuba So iet troop presence in Cuba Cuban-American influence on policy Castro>s iews of changes in the So iet bloc Bogot?, Columbia 196,-19,1 Origin of assignment Ambassador Carlson Situation in Columbia The iolencia Drug situation 2 The Alliance for Progress American business interests Columbian iew of Cuba Relations with Columbian authorities Columbian role in Panama Canal Treaty Nixon administration changes Ambassador Vaughn The Foreign Ser ice in 7atin America Rockefeller isit Preoccupation with Vietnam Washington 19,1-19,4 Country director for Mexico Mexican-American relations in 19,1 The drug problem Water rights Immigration problems Relation with Mexican officials US-Mexico policy Deputy Director of assignments Personnel in the Foreign Ser ice Assignments Panel Importance of assignment process Kissinger>s 1lobal Outlook program Ambassador to Malawi 19,4-19,0 US interests in Malawi President Banda AID program Situation in MoAambi2ue Carter human rights policy Staff at embassy Conditions in Malawi Open-window retirement program Conclusion 1reatest satisfactions Summary of career A career in the Foreign Ser ice Changes in the Foreign Ser ice INTERVIEW 3 Q: Mr. Ambassador, please give a little bit of your background before you came into the Foreign Service, so we know where you(re coming from. STEVENSON: Certainly. I graduated from the Uni ersity of North Carolina in 1930, with a B.S. in Commerce degree and a major in foreign trade, and then mo ed up to western New Eork, where my family was li ing then, near Buffalo, and went to work first for Remington Rand, then after a year or so, for the National 1ypsum Company. While I was working for the National 1ypsum Company in their Industrial Sales Di ision, I felt I had to get into World War II. So I applied for and recei ed a commission as an ensign in the Na y Supply Corps and ser ed in the Na y, in the Pacific theater, until after the war. Then I took the Foreign Ser ice exam, the special exam that was gi en for military men. I took it in New Eork City in 194. with about 1.0 others, at a writing desk with just a writing arm to write on, and I just failed it. So I was discouraged, but not completely discouraged. I felt if I had had time to bone up for it and had had better writing facilities, I could ha e passed it. So I stayed on in the Na y as a regular officer and was sent to Na al Air Station Jackson ille, FlaF took the exam in December of 1946, passed it, and then came in the Foreign Ser ice class of September 2, 194,. Our last member in that class on acti e duty was 1eorge Vest, who recently retired from the position of Director 1eneral. After the usual introductory training here at Washington, I was assigned to Embassy San JosG, Costa Rica, my first post. I will say that the Foreign Ser ice, in those years, was sort of the HO. Henry Foreign Ser iceH, as he portrayed it in his story, HCabbage and Things.H A couple of clerks looked after you in the Foreign Ser ice Institute, in terms of your tra el and plans, and you pretty much had to make your own arrangements to tra el by ship. I went down to San JosG, Costa Rica, to the port of 1olfito, on a United Fruit Co. banana boat from New Orleans with my wife and two small girls and a cocker spaniel. The experience in San JosG was, indeed, ery interesting because I got a ariety of work. I started out in the economic section and did the economic reporting, and then did labor reporting and was the first person to make contact with 7uis Alberto Monge IAl areAJ, who at about age 22 was the director of the Catholic 7abor Union and later, of course, President of Costa Rica in recent times. Then I was assigned to the Consular office and had experience doing consular work there. The area was full of flotsam and jetsam left o er from World War II, interesting characters, I must say. Of course, while I was there in 1940, Pepe IJosGJ Figueres started his re olution, successful, and threw out a go ernment that was about to be taken o er by the communists. ThereKs not much doubt about this point in my mind, ha ing personally heard the communist deputy chortling o er the loud speaker system about how the Congress had annulled the elections and the Colderon 1uardia elements were about to take o er. But Figueres started his re olution and it was successful. I heard more shooting then than I e er did in World War II. 4 Q: )hat was the situation there* )as the embassy a bystander involved in this* )hat were we doing* STEVENSON: The embassy, Lin my innocence as a brand-new 3rd secretary and ice consulM I thought was not in ol ed, but 7TC Jimmy Hughes, who was our Army attachG, disappeared for four or fi e days and we learned later that heKd been gi ing military ad ice to Figueres. So in that sense, there was certainly some informal in ol ement. Our ambassador was Nathaniel P. Da is, a ery sharp pro who had been a prisoner of war in the Philippines under the Japanese. I remember how my friend, 1i en Parsons, and I shook our heads and had our eyes opened when we were told not to worry about Jimmy Hughes. LChucklesM And we didnKt. FigueresK ictory was ery popular, no doubt about it. He had the o erwhelming support of the people of the country. When the go ernment fled, there were three days of anarchy in the city, with small groups of what we called mariachis, young country boys from 1uanacaste, who had been armed by the Picado go ernment with .44-caliber Remingtons, single-shot Remington rifles with a soft-lead bullet as big as your thumb, and they marched around the town after the go ernment had left, and fired these guns from time to time. Our embassy then was on the third floor of the Hotel Costa Rica. I remember such a threesome coming down the street just at noontime as I was lea ing to dri e home for lunch. I thought better of it, finally, and turned back and went into the office and up the stairs to the third floor. As I went in, I heard a shot. They told me later that the bullet hit the window just below the ambassadorKs office and chipped bits of concrete onto the people who were looking out. I thought it was a good thing I went back, because when I came from lunch, there were blood stains all o er the sidewalk across the street where some of these fellows had shot a poor guy through the stomach. Figueres won, and then later, contrary to most 7atin American ictors in re olutions, he turned the go ernment o er to Otilio Ulate, who had been elected in the election in Feb, 1940. Q: It(s really stuck since then, hasn(t it* STEVENSON: Ees. Democracy has stuck there. Ees. Q: Did you have any contact or any feel about the communist group that was trying to take over at the time* STEVENSON: I wasnKt doing political work then. Of course, I was brand new. But Manuel Mora was the communist leader down there, and was a ery powerful communist leader and a member of the Congress. I can still remember him speaking to the Congress, because they carried in on loudspeakers. I heard his speech, as I say, when he was chortling about how the Congress had annulled the election and they werenKt going to let 5 the reactionaries take o er the country. The Communists were supporting former President, Dr.