The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project RICHARD FENTON ROSS Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: June 19, 2003 Copyright 2012 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Virginia, raised in Virginia and several other East Coast States University of Florida, Vanderbilt University Newspaper work US Army Entered the USIA Foreign Service in 1964 Beirut, Lebanon: Arabic language study 1964-1960 Beirut Students Beirut -ebanon. USIA 1unior Officer in Training2Assistant 1960-1966 Information2Cultural Affairs Officer Environment Operations Staff Chamoun Nationalist Chinese Chester Opal 3obert 4ilkey 5ireless File Ambassador Armin 6eyer French language Nasser Confessionalism 6ohammed Naguib Agriculture Hickenlooper Amendment Saint 1oseph College University 6aronite Christians 3eligions American University of Beirut 7AUB8 Cultural E9changes 1 6ormon missionaries Bookmobiles Susan Fit:gerald Kennedy Center Printing Press Arabic weekly -ebanese University Palestine 3efugee camps Pan American Airways -ebanese-Israeli issues 6uslim schools Shiites Amman 1ordan. Acting Cultural Affairs Officer 1966-1967 3esidence in 1erusalem 7late 1966 to 19678 Fulbright and International Visitors Programs Housing Partitioned 1erusalem Burt Stimmel Baalbeck Festival 3oman ruins Travel check points Israeli-Arab disputes Archaeological sites Telkarm Qumran caves Dead Sea Scrolls 1ordan environment Cultural Center USIS headquarters Soviet Cultural Center Vietnam Defense Advance 3esearch Projects Agency 7DA3PA8 * * * * * * * 7Two weeks active 6ilitary Duty8 Seventh Army Headquarters 4ermany; -iaison duties Operations BahaAi faith 5ar 4ames Amman 1ordan 7continued8 King Hussein Palestinians 6ajlis al-Ayan Security British influence 2 Nablus US 6arine Air 4roup B 76ilitary Assistance 4roup MAA48 F-10,s flown to Turkey Tourism 1ordanian Diaspora Property rights Housing Archaeological sites House guests Ambassador 3obert 4aylord Barnes Ambassador Findley Burns Nasser threats 6andelbaum 4ate US periodicals Evan 5ilson Consulates 6ack and Priscilla Hall Consular problems 6uslim Brotherhood Palestine -iberation Organi:ation 7P-O8 Trip to Palmyra adventure 6ovies American Friends of the 6iddle East 7AF6E8 1oe Ale9 6orris Patrick Seale 1ordanian-American citi:ens Arab-Israel 5ar E9periences Hippies and smuggling American Colony Hotel Bertha Vester USS -iberty 4olan Heights Census Israeli occupation policies Populace reactions to war 1ordanian Army 3ockefeller 6useum American School of Oriental 3esearch Palestinian fear of 1ews -ocal press Post war environment 1ordanian2Palestinian relations Palestinian independence Israeli2Palestinian relations Christian holy sites Anti-American sentiment 3 Bishop 71ames8 Pike 6ar Saba State Department. Foreign Service Institute 7FSI8. French 1967-1968 -anguage Study Calcutta India. USIA; Audio-Visual Officer 1968-1970 Operations Film E9hibits 4eographic area Branch Posts Caste system 1ock Shirley Duncan Scott Environment E9hibits Strikes Eouth Speaking engagements Na9alites NASA e9hibits 6ovies 6oon rock Internal travel A look in the files 3ecreation 5ealthy class Soviet 6I4s 1yoti Basu Economy Poverty -eper colonies East Pakistan 6uslims University of 6aryland. Communication Theory study 1970-1972 International Communications Seminar Alan Carter Course of instruction Filming 5ashington DC; Headquarters USIA. Training 5orkshops 1972-1973 6arriage Program production Programs for Foreign Service Officers 4 Colombo Sri -anka. Cultural AttachH 1973-1977 -ester 1ames Peries 4overnment officials 6rs. and 6r. Bandaranaike Cooperatives Socialism Peace Corps Communist Chinese Spirit of Bandung Si9th Nonaligned Conference attendees Qadhafi Nationali:ations Economy Currency Political Parties Samil2Sinhalese rivalry 3ohana 5ijeweera 1unius 3ichard 1ayewardene Cultural Center facilities Environment British Tea 1apanese Colombo port Cultural programs Interest in film making Ceylonese view of US politics Pat Byrne Ni9on resignation Ambassador and Eli:a Van Hollen Ambassador 1ohn Hathaway 3on 5alcott Birth of son 5ashington DC. Dari 7Persian dialect8 language study 1977 Kabul Afghanistan. Cultural Affairs Officer 1977-1979 USAID Development Program Peace Corps Daoud Khan Environment 3oyal family Fulbright board 3ussians Camel caravans Security 5 Difficulties with cultural presentations -apis la:uli Kabul 4orge 3evolution Ambassador Theodore -. Eliot 1r. Babrak Karmal 6urder of Ambassador Adolph JSpikeK Dubs 7in detail8 Tape recording Embassy personnel reductions Nur 6ohammed Taraki 4overnment restrictions Hafi:ullah Amin Internal travel 3elations with government Foreign wives of Afghans 4overnment officials Paris France. Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer 1979-198, University contacts -ecture programs French interest in US politics Security Corsicans French views of US -ocal press Neutron bomb French views of 3ussians 1ean-6arie -e Pen Operations American speakers French Universities Programs of French leaders Paris France. UNESCO; Public Affairs Advisor 198,-1988 Ambassador 1ean Broward Shevlin 4erard Ed Hennessey Operations US threat to leave UNESCO New 5orld Information Order 1an de 5ilde 6embers UNESCO agenda US staff Director Charles 5ick US withdraws membership Ambassador Amadou-6ahtar 6ABow 6 Ursula 6eese Ed Hennessey New 5orld Information Order UNESCO proceedings Colonial resentment 3hine 3iver French attitudes Fall of the French franc Headquarters USIA. Desk Officer2; Director; Bangladesh 1988 Afghanistan Pakistan and Sri -anka Operations Director 5ick 6elina 6ercouri Elgin 6arbles US Embassy Kabul Soviet armament US aid to Afghan 6edia Service Charlie 5ilson Visit to Peshawar Views on change in Afghanistan 4eneral observations Foreign Service Institute. Djarja L Standard 6odern Arabic study 1988 3abat 6orocco. Cultural Affairs Officer 1988-1992 Ambassador 6ike Ussery Crown Prince Vernon 5alters Acceptance of gifts prohibition Cultural Center 3ichard 1ackson Operations Ambassador Frederick Vreeland King Hassan II and family Dyna-Soar Polisario Arab-Israel issue 1ewish community 5ifeAs activities Community -iaison Officer 3etirement 1992 Accompanying wife in Eemen 1993-1996 President Ali Abdullah Saleh 7 4hat North and South Eemen Environment Politics Horn of Africa Feuding 5ar US C-130As visit U-2s Teaching at Eemen American -anguage Institute Haynes 6ahoney kidnapped Eemen-Hunt Oil Company Tribal discontent -ocal architecture Arms availability Accompanying wife in Damascus Syria 1996-2000 Transiting Saudi Arabia by car Hotels Customs 5ifeAs professional duties Embassy contract work Environment Ambassador Christopher 3oss BaAath Party Anti-US demonstrations Damascus University Ambassador 3yan Crocker Trashing the US Embassy Hafi: al-Assad Terrorism Additional Comments 5orking with the French in France Personal contacts in Paris Kabul Afghanistan INTERVIEW MNote. this interview was not edited by 6r. 3ossN Q: Today is June 19, 2003. This is an interview with Richard Fenton Ross, R-O-S-S. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. 8 ,ell, do you go by Dic-, Richard, or./ 3OSS. 3ichard usually. Q: Richard, o-ay. Let1s sort of start at the beginning. Could you tell me when and where you were born and a little about your family/ 3OSS. Sure. I was born in Ale9andria Virginia in November 1930 and I was born in the old Ale9andria Hospital which was at Duke and South 5ashington and that buildingAs torn down now and it was the Time -ife Building; theyAd built on top of it. It was a building from the late part of the nineteenth century. Q: 2es. 3OSS. IAll get into it maybe a little bit more. I lived until I was seven years oldOmaybe si9 years oldOtwo houses away from the hospital. At that time it wasnAt called Old Town; it was just called Ale9andria. Q: 2es. 3OSS. So thatAs where I started out. 6y father had worked at a bank in Ale9andria for 19 years on King Street Citi:ens National Bank which doesnAt e9ist anymore; and he came from what they used to call Jup in the country.K He came from the area between 6iddleburg and -eesburg in -oudon County and he came from a family that had been up there for a long while but they werenAt landed. They were yeomen farmers I guess. Q: ,ell, I1d li-e to get a little feel. I mean where did they come from/ 3OSS. They were English and Scots J3ossK being Scots. 6y fatherAs father had gone to 3andolph-6acon Academy. His father that is to say my great-grandfather 3oss had a dry goods store and a post office at a place up at the base of 6ount 5eather where the government later dug out 7ha ha ha8 the big caverns on the other side on the western side of the mountain. But it was called 6ount 5eather because there was an early weather station at the top from the turn of the century or perhaps before. Q: 2es. 3OSS. He was the postmaster and so forth up there at the Trap and that is a little place thatAs been there called the Trap since middle of the 1800s or before. Q: 2es. 3OSS. So the 3osses had been wheat farmers and corn farmers up there. Q: ,ere they involved in the Civil ,ar/ 9 3OSS. Actually I havenAt done any family history but the 3osses seemed to avoid the Civil 5ar. The other half of my fatherAs parents were the -eiths who were big landowners up there and thatAs an English kind of name or Scots too I should say. Q: How is that spelled/ 3OSS. --E-I-T-H. Q: 2es. 3OSS. The -eiths some of them lost their livesPthereAs one guy that comes to mind called Dallas -eith second