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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project JACOB GILLESPIE Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: February 4, 2010 Copyright 2013 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in llinois; raised in llinois and Maryland Dartmouth College Marriage Commissioned US A Foreign Service Officer, 1961 Edward R. Murrow -ashington, DC. Foreign Service nstitute; French 1962 Accra, 0hana. US A Rotation Officer 196211962 Environment 3wame Nkrumah American Outlook 5ames Baldwin US aid program Ambassador -illiam Mahoney Edgar 3aiser 0. Mennen -illiams Dan7uah Scholars of Africa -. E, B. Du Bois French Birth of son 0hanaian hospitality nternational 8isitor Program Corruption British Peace Corps Bujumbura, Burundi. US S, Assistant Public Affairs Officer 196211964 Environment Staff Ethnic groups 1 0overnment Tutsi refugee camps Communication facilities Elton Stepherson 3ennedy assassination University of Butare Chinese officer defection Chinese official presence U.S. media Leopoldville, Republic of the Congo. Field Operations Officer; 196411966 Motion Pictures Officer Averill Harriman Consulate personnel hostages in Stanleyville Max 3raus Belgians retake Stanleyville Stanleyville devastation Ambassador 0odley -ork load Elizabethville Bukavu Environment Rebel activities Mike Hoare=s mercenaries South African mercenaries Motion Picture Distribution Mobutu nternal travels Co7uilhatville Fred Hunter ndustrial diamonds Exhibits Social life Parc Albert Hank Ryan Films production and distribution 0eorge Stevens, 5r. -ife=s pregnancy and return to US Birth of daughter Prime Minister Moise Tshombe 5oseph 3asavubu Mobutu Coup d=état Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu10odley relations nfrastructure Embassy personnel 2 State Department. Foreign Service nstitute; Spanish 196611967 Montevideo, Uruguay. US S, Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer 196711969 Exhibits program Artists Program presentations Cultural Exchange Program Fulbright Program 5uan 5orge and nes Schaffer Cattle and sheep Ambassador Robert Sayre Education Social structure Environment Culture Economy Political parties Military 0overnment Alliance for Progress USA D Mission .M. Pei visit 0iancarlo Puppo chi Mori Foreign orientation 0raf Spee Foreign nationals Tupamaros Americans kidnapped President 0estido President 5orge Pacheco Areco Ambassador Henry Hoyt Security Funeral customs Movie @State of SiegeA ntelligentsia Labor Exhibit 5ohn Topping Duke Ellington Douglas Pike -ashington, DC. TDB at local Television Station -ETA 196911971 Programming @-ashington -eek in ReviewA Station fan mail 5ulia Child 2 Max 3ampelman Personnel Cuality newspapers @PBS News Hour with 5im Lehrer -ashington, DC. US A Head7uarters. Training Division 197111975 Stan Moss Training Program content National Press Club Staff members @Art in AmericaA seminar Dan Ellsberg EPentagon PapersF Nicholas 8on Hoffman State Department. FS . Dutch language training 1975 The Hague; nformation Officer and Press Attaché 197611981 @8rij NederlandA Philip Agee @-ho=s -ho in the C AA Lockheed bribery scandal Prince Bernhard Ambassador 3ingman 0ould Ambassador Robert McCloskey 8ictor Stier Ambassador 0eri 5oseph US election seminar US Bicentennial Cultural programs Neutron bomb Deployment of ntermediate Nuclear Forces debate 0overnment Political Parties Catholic/Protestant division nternational 8isitors Program Polling Marshall Plan Edward Teller Missiles Terrorist groups South Moluccans Central America Teheran embassy takeover 8isitors Program Tom 3orologos Reagan election 4 Dutch elections -ashington, DC. Head7uarters, US A. Chief, Fast 0uidance Unit 198211986 Missiles deployment Bud McFarlane Charlie -ick Reagan=s @Iero OptionA speech Policy guidance for US A media Operations Alan Romberg Congressional interest 5avier Solana Department of State. Press Officer 1986 San Salvador, El Salvador. US S, Public Affairs Officer 198611988 Family Contra/Sandinista 0uerilla -ar Office organization Universities 0overnment 5ose Napoleon Duarte Ambassador Edward Corr US Military 0roup Security Marine guards murdered 5ournalists Operations Crisis management Earth7uake @Eugene Hasenfus AffairA Embassy emergency operations Dealing with the press Daily briefings Earth7uake devastation Felix Rodriguez Colonel Oliver North nternational assistance efforts Press conference nternational assistance teams @backpackersA Press reporting Foreign casualties David Dlouhy Congressional delegations USA D 5 Senator Chris Dodd 8 P visitors Election observers Ethnic and social groups Turcos ELevantinesF Political Parties D=Aubuisson Death s7uads European Christian Democratic Movement Political animosities Exchange Programs Bi1National Commission Dorothy Dillon 0uerilla Army attacks Cuban influence Cable system FB interrogation -ashington, DC US A Head7uarters; Deputy Director, 1989 Press and Publications Division Publications -orldwide printing facilities Madrid, Spain. US S, Public Affairs Officer 198911994 Ambassador 5oseph Iappala 0overnment Seville Universal Exposition EExpoF US participation Congressional support Olympics Terrorists American participation Arrangements Staff US Air Force bases Fulbright Program Crown Prince Felipe Relations Felipe 0onzalez Dolores bJrruri B152s E3uwait -arF Hezbollah K Terrorist 0roups Middle East Peace Conference Charles -ick Arnold Schwarzenegger Monarchy 6 Ambassador Richard Capen Presentation of Credentials US presidential elections Ambassador Richard 0ardner Pepé Ortega Environment Consul 0eneral Ruth Davis Bas7ue/Catalan/Spanish -ashington, D.C.. US A Head7uarters. Director, Foreign Press Centers 199211997 Location of Centers National Press Club Historical background Objectives Leading foreign newspapers Organization Center operations Ron Brown Donna Shalala Briefing procedures Protection of intellectual property Microsoft Summit of the Americas, Miami Carlos Menem 018 Conference Call EDenverF Democratic Convention EChicagoF Dennis Rodman Atlanta Olympics 5orge Mas Canoso T8 Marti Congressman Dante Fascell Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty 8oice of America Harold ckes Foreign Press Corps Country evaluation -ashington, DC. US A Head7uarters. Executive Director, nter1Agency 199711998 Committee on nternational Exchange K Training American agencies Function and organization US A1State Dept. consolidation Reflections 7 INTERVIEW Q: Today is the 4th of February, 2010. This is an interview with Jacob P. )illespie. And what does the *P+ stand for, 0 LLESP E. Priester Q: Priester. O.ay, and you go by Ja.e, 0 LLESP E. do. Q: O.ay Ja.e, let/s start at the beginning. 0hen and where were you born, 0 LLESP E. was born on 5uly 4, 1929, in Cairo, llinois. Q: In Cairo, Oh yes, that was a big center for the 1nion army going down the 3ississippi. 0 LLESP E. t was 0rant=s head7uarters for the Union army. t was an important town because it=s at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Q: For the transcriber, Cairo is spelled li.e Cairo, C4 4I4R4O. 0 LLESP E. And fre7uently mispronounced. ran into former1 the late Senator Paul Simon once when he was overseas and 1 Q: He was a senator from Illinois. 0 LLESP E. Bes. He was; moreover, he was a congressman before from the southern part of llinois, and said, @Senator, was born in your old congressional district.A He said, @Oh whereLA -hen said Cairo and pronounced it @3aro,A he said @yes, you were.A Cairo was an important town at the time of the Civil -ar. t had been a bit of a boomtown; it was a rail hub, the river traffic was very important. The other reason that 0rant wanted his head7uarters there was that it was Copperhead country and he wanted to make sure he knew what these guys behind him were doing. Q: Copperheads being people living in the 1nion but sympathetic to the South. 0 LLESP E. Correct. Q: Somehow when I thin. of that place I thin. of lead. 0as there a lead mine within4, 8 0 LLESP E. There are lead mines but not there. The lead mines are east and obviously north of there but there were lead mines, there was some coal but mainly it was built around the river1 rail traffic; it was farming. Q: O.ay. Let/s get to the family. 0hat can you tell me about the )illespies, 0 LLESP E. My father was Frank 0illespie. His father, -illiam, was a railroad man. He was yard manager in Cairo and died before was born. Q: Do you .now where he came from, 0 LLESP E. Bes, his family was all from southern llinois, but the 0illespies were originally pre1Revolutionary settlers who were probably indentured servants in North Carolina and worked their way west. My father=s mother=s family was the similar. They were all farmers. Both of my father=s grandfathers fought for the Union and both were imprisoned. My paternal great grandfather, 5ames Bryson 0illespie, was fortunate enough to be an officer and went off to the officer camps, which was somewhat better. 0eorge Huffman, Dad=s maternal grandfather, went to Andersonville, was there for two or three months, survived that and Florence, South Carolina, and eventually escaped from a prison camp in 0oldsboro, North Carolina. They both left some written history; conse7uently go on more than should there. But that history was important to his family and to him M and to me. Dad and his brother and sisters were raised in little rail centers throughout that region, one being Hope, Arkansas, where he started school. Q: That/s where President Clinton came from. 0 LLESP E. That=s right. asked my father in 1992 what it was like to be a boy in Hope. He said they weren=t liked because they were Bankees. -e forget at