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Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project GILBERT J. DONAHUE Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 18, 2000 Copyright 2002 ADS TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Arlington, Virginia and aryland American University Nepal - Peace Corps 1968-1970 Agriculture e,tension program Environment .oyalty /overnment Customs Evaluation Entered Foreign Service 1971 A100 course a0atlan, e,ico - Vice Consul 1971-1971 Narcotics Security Protection cases Environment arriage /uadalajara, e,ico - Vice Consul 1971-1972 Tandem couple Foreign Service Institute 4FSI5 - French 7anguage Training 1972 Abidjan, Ivory Coast - Economic Officer 1972-1976 /hana Economy African economies French influence Petroleum /overnment President Houphouet Boigny Foreign interests 7ebanese Environment FSI - Chinese 7anguage Training 1976-1977 Taichung, Taiwan - Chinese 7anguage Training 1977-1978 Environment China relations Chinese groups Hong :ong - China .eporting /roup 1978-1981 China recognition issue Post- ao atmosphere China and capitalism U.S. 7iaison Office, Beijing Chinese employees Williamsburg /roup .elationship with allies U.S.-China Business Council China trade issues Canton Trade Fair 7istening post value State Department - Bureau of Economic Affairs 1981-1985 Industrial and strategic minerals OPEC Commodity agreements Production and marketing decisions /overnment versus market roles State Department - Secretary>s Open Forum - Vice Chairman 1985-1986 Dissent channel Operations Dissent cases Beijing, China - Economic Officer 1986-1987 Ambassador Winston 7ord /ATT U.S. commercial interests Intellectual ferment Deep Purple Park Atmosphere Travel Security Visas State Department - European Bureau - Canada Desk Officer 1987-1989 NAFTA /ATT - Uruguay .ound U.S.-Canada agreement Hong :ong - Economic/Political Officer (ChinaA 1989-1992 Britain-China negotiations Tiananmen massacre /orbachev>s China visit Post Cultural .evolution Democracy movement U.S.-China relations Hong :ong and China relationship British-U.S. differences Emigration E,patriates and refugees Corruption inorities Communists China visits 7anguage Office of the U.S. Trade .epresentative 1992-1992 Director for Intellectual Property /ATT NAFTA U.S. trade law FSI - Portuguese 7anguage Training 1992-1992 Sao Paulo, Bra0il - Deputy Principal Officer 1992-1997 Economy U.S. interests Spanish ercosur Finance U.S. relations State Department - International Organi0ations - 1997-1998 Deputy Office Director IFAD UN food agencies UNDP INTERVIEW Q: oday is April 18, 2000. his is an interview with Gilbert J. Donahue. his is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and raining and I(m Charles Stuart Kennedy. Do people call you Gil) DONAHUEC Des. Q: Let(s start at the beginning. Could you tell me when and where you were born and something about your family) DONAHUEC I was born here in Arlington, Virginia, on April 25, 1927. y mother and her family were native Virginians, back to about 1619. y father was from Taunton, assachusetts, and he was in World War II as a /I. He took advantage of the /I Bill for university education following WWII and came to Washington to work for the National Security Agency, which was at that time located here at Arlington Hall. Q: his interview is taking place at Arlington Hall. -here did he meet your mother) DONAHUEC Through mutual friends with whom he was staying. In those days, there were not a lot of apartment buildings for people freshly arrived in the Washington area to stay in in Virginia. So, he was renting a room in the house of friends of my mother>s and they introduced my parents. Q: -hat was your father(s background) DONAHUEC He was born in 1919 in Taunton, assachusetts and was one of about 15 children, a typical Irish-American family of the time. Because he was one of the younger children, most of his brothers and sisters had married and left home by the time he was ready to leave. Q: He was in the military. .ou say he took the GI Bill when he got out) DONAHUEC Des. Q: -here did he go) DONAHUEC Before he was drafted, he was in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCCA and did work in the New England area, especially in New Hampshire with some of the national and state parks up there. When he was drafted, he did not go into the Army, but into the Air Force, and so he saw service in North Africa, Italy, and what is now India and Pakistan. So, when he returned to the United States in 1925 after the war, he went to Boston University and completed four years of university. Q: hen he came here. How about your mother) -hat was her background) DONAHUEC She was in the first graduating class at Washington and 7ee High School here in Arlington. It was 1928. She went on to William and ary College and then what is now Eames adison University (at that time, it was Harrisonburg State Teacher>s CollegeA. She was an elementary school teacher in Arlington County schools for many years and later in the late F50s, we moved to Howard County, aryland, where my mother continued to teach until she retired. Q: -ere you here in elementary school in Arlington) DONAHUEC That>s right. I was. Q: -hat were schools like then) DONAHUEC In those days, Virginia>s schools were still segregated. It was almost like two school systems run within the county. I went to two schools, both of which were new when I went. One was Thomas Nelson Page School. I believe they changed the name because Page was considered pro-segregation. I believe it may be a special technical center for Arlington County now. Then I went to Ashlawn School as well, which is near the Fairfa, line. Q: -hile you were in elementary school, was there anything that interested you in school 0 reading or sports) DONAHUEC I was always interested in reading, especially about foreign countries. As a result, I was also always interested in the Foreign Service. Where we lived in Arlington in those days, some of our neighbors were in the Foreign Service. In another location, some of our neighbors were connected with foreign embassies. Even then, Arlington had a degree of cosmopolitan nature that many other communities lacked. When I was in the fifth grade, which was the 1957 period, there was a great deal of concern and even consternation when .ussia launched Sputnik. There was a great deal of concern that Arlington County schools better get their act together and train people in international relations to meet some perceived international threat. So, in the elementary school that I went to, which was Ashlawn, they began to include foreign language instruction on an e,tracurricular basis. I had a choice between French and .ussian. I chose .ussian. So, I actually had two years of .ussian in fifth and si,th grade. Q: hat(s remarkable. Did you get anything about what your father was doing or was this just not talked about) DONAHUEC If I ever asked my father what he was doing, the answer was that he just couldn>t say. That was generally what he told people. I think he would not deny that he worked for the National Security Agency, but when somebody asked him what that involved, he would not make any statement beyond that. So, he always avoided the subject of what he did, although we had a number of family friends with whom he worked. I never heard any of them talk about it. Q: Did you have any friends in elementary school who were Foreign Service kids) DONAHUEC Not really. But there were some families in the neighborhood who were with foreign embassies. This is where we lived when I was in late elementary school. I have no recollection of them attending the school I went to, but we played in the neighborhood together. Among them were Indonesians, Europeans (but I>m not sure which countryA, and people from South America (but again I>m not sure which countryA. Q: Did this turn you towards maps and learning where places were) DONAHUEC Oh, very much so. I>ve always been interested in geography. Q: -here did you go to high school) DONAHUEC Following my si,th grade, we moved to Ellicott City, aryland, where I went to school from seventh through twelfth grade. So, I went to Ellicott City Eunior High School and Howard County Senior High School. Q: -as there a difference between Arlington County and Howard County) DONAHUEC There was a great deal of difference then. Arlington was much more affluent and had a much larger proportion of professional people. Howard County in those days was very rural. In fact, the high school I went to still taught vocational agriculture as one of its fields. It was just before the city of Columbia was built, so there were already a number of suburbanites living in Howard County, but it was not yet the urban setting it is now. Q: I assume your father moved over to Fort Meade, which is where the National Security Agency now is housed. DONAHUEC That>s right. It was a very bad commute from Arlington, so it made more sense to move. Q: In junior high and high school, what sort of courses were you taking) DONAHUEC I could not, unfortunately, continue my .ussian language classes while living in Howard County. There was just no way to do that. But beginning in seventh grade, I was able to study Spanish. I continued Spanish in high school, with the eGuivalent of four years of Spanish. I also took 7atin for four years. Q: Solid. -hen you were doing all this, did desegregation efforts impact on you all) DONAHUEC They did. aryland was a little bit ahead of Virginia on that score despite the fact that Howard County was Guite rural.
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