Bellocchi, Natale H
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR NATALE H. BELLOCCHI Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 21, 1995 Copyright 199 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Ne York State Georgia Tech - Georgeto n University U.S. Army, (orean )ar Entered Foreign Service 1,55 as courier Hong (ong 1,5,-1,.0 Administrative duties Studied 0hinese 1aos 1,.1-1,.2 Administrative officer Environment Tai an, Taichung 1,.2-1,.3 0hinese language training Tai an, Taipei 1,.3-1,.8 Assistant 0ommercial attache Tai an50hina issue Hong (ong 1,.8-1,70 0hief, 0ommercial Section American business community American 0hamber of 0ommerce Business climate 0hina8s 80ultural Revolution8 Attitude to ard Tai an :ietnam issue Economic Studies, Department of State 1,70 1 :ietnam, 0ORDS 1,70-1,71 Danang and I 0orps Environment :ietnam, Saigon 1,71-1,72 Embassy organization Morale 0hinese community 1ocal culture, corruption Japan, Tokyo 1,72-1,73 0ommercial 0ounselor U.S. Trade 0enter )ine export problem U.S. trade problems Senior Seminar 1,73-1,75 Treasury Department 1,75-1,7. Foreign trade study India, Ne Delhi 1,7.-1,7, Economic councilor Emergency period AGandhi) AID program Soviets in India Hong (ong 1,7,-1,81 Deputy Principal Officer 0hina opening up 0hanges in Hong (ong 0hina atchers INR 1,81-1,85 1ong term analysis 8Morning Summary8 1eaks to press INR and other U.S. Government agencies Special problems Argentina Nicaragua 1ibya Middle East INR8s political analysis National Security 0ouncil 2 Soviet Union intelligence Tai an8s aircraft - IDF Bots ana 1,85-1,88 Ambassador Environment Diamonds 8Front 1ine8 movement South Africa8s relations AN0 Peace 0orps Industrial )ar 0ollege 1,88-1,,0 :ice President Assessment Tai an, American Institute in 1,,0-1,,5 Rosslyn, :irginia 0hairman Description and functions Relation to Department of State U.S. - Tai an relations American Institute in Tai an Tai an Relations Act Taipei language school T o-0hina policy - problems Tai anese lobby in U.S. Japan5Tai an relations Other Tai an external relations INTERVIEW CD Today is the first day of Spring 1995, March 21st. Nat and I are old friends. This is an interview with Natale H. Bellocchi. I)m Charles Stuart Kennedy. Nat, you were born in New Yor, in 192-. Could you tell me a bit about your family and where you grew up and about your bac,ground. BE11O00HID )ell, up-state Ne York, a small to n. CD /hat was the name of the small town. 3 BE11O00HID 1ittle Falls, not a very difficult name but it is a part of the Moha k :alley, a series of small villages that had a lot of factories and ere largely people by immigrants. The to ns in those days ere divided by ethnic areas, even the small ones. 1ittle Falls in those days as a small to n of maybe 12,000. I think it8s less than 8,000 no , and you had one area hich as predominantly Irish, the south side as Italian, the Polish lived in one area in the est, and the Germans in another area, and the Ukrainians in yet another. It as delightful because you could go to their ethnic grocery stores and get first rate food. But after )orld )ar II that all disappeared and people inter-married to such an extent that all of those ethnic divisions ere lost. I ent to the public high school, Amuch to my parents8 dismay I didn8t ant to go to the 0atholic school)but made up for it by being a good altar boy in the church. It as largely an Italian immigrant church that e attended, e had plenty of relatives all there in to n. My father died at a pretty early age for me, I as t elve years old. )e ere in the midst of the depression so the values one gro s up ith are based very largely on austerity in terms of money, and the values acEuired at that age at that time. I lived there all through high school years. )hen I graduated from high school, )orld )ar II being aged, 1,33. I as rejected for the draft and it as probably the greatest disappointment of my life. You can8t imagine no that in those days not to have been accepted in the draft as just crushing, absolutely crushing. In fact, the result as that I ent to college at Georgia Tech because it as so far a ay. That as the farthest I had ever gone from home. It took 2. hours to get there by train, and I as in a completely different orld in the south in those days. CD /hy did you pic, 0eorgia Tech. BE11O00HID 0heap. It cost F5..00 a semester hen I joined. It ent up very fast after the veterans started coming, the GI Bill, to something like F300 or F500, hich as an enormous sum. I orked, I ould say, bet een 20 and 30 hours a eek. The family made a little contribution, but it as largely orking your ay through. CD /hat were you ta,ing at 0eorgia Tech. BE11O00HID Industrial Management. CD /hat pushed you towards that. Coming from an industrial town, was that it. BE11O00HID )ell, I guess, and in those days being in engineering and management, that is hat you ould study to get a good job. Essentially the purpose as preparing for a job. I built up an interest in foreign commerce, not so much foreign relations. I think I had in mind getting into a company that had international operations. No particular reason other than I as interested. CD Then you graduated in 191 . BE11O00HID From college, yes. 4 CD Then what happened. BE11O00HID I ent to ork for Burlington Mills, a textile company. I as hired through the placement system of the school, and orked in Allento n, Pennsylvania at one of their divisions. They used industrial engineers, taking time studies on to make it more efficient. It didn8t interest me all that much. I ent up pretty fast. I as still a bachelor, but I as still interested in going abroad. But then the (orean )ar broke out. I had not been in the service, so of course I as called up in the draft. I didn8t tell a lie, I just didn8t say that I had been turned do n, let8s put it that ay, because I as still rankled by not having been in the service. I got passed. The heart murmur that caused my previous rejection- ell, they didn8t seem to hear it. And it8s Euite possible they didn8t because these murmurs go up and do n. So I passed the physical, and got drafted and ent to Ft. Dix, Ne Jersey, as a draftee. I remember, .5G of our company in basic training, ere college graduates. )e ere being trained as infantry, and most of those people that I ent to basic training ith ent to (orea, and ere caught up and pretty much iped out by the move of the 0hinese into South (orea. But I had foolishly volunteered for Officer 0andidate School thinking, my gosh, I8m going to take another chance and if they find I have a heart murmur I8ll be out for good. But they didn8t, and I ent through O0S at Ft. Benning, and spent a year out in 0alifornia at a camp, 1eadership School, they called it, and then out to (orea in the infantry. CD /hen were you in Korea. BE11O00HID 1,52--I think 852 and 852, and as assigned to a rifle platoon that had just been iped out on Baldy Hill, a famous place in the (orean )ar. CD /ere you with a division, or a corps. BE11O00HID The Second Division, the 22rd Infantry, A 0ompany, and e ere right up on the front line. It as kind of dicey for a hile, and then I ent to Regiment HeadEuarters after about six or eight months on the line. That8s hen the current battle line had already been formed. I as lucky, that8s all you can say is that you8re lucky. After another six months I came back. I as on board the ship hen the Armistice as signed, on the ay back home. CD You were, by the way, protecting me. I was in Seoul listening to Russian broadcasts. BE11O00HID )e had an interpreter in case e captured prisoners. The Regiment had one interpreter, and he spoke no 0hinese, a little bit of Japanese hich he clearly learned in the bedrooms. So there as a dearth of 0hinese speakers. CD /e had our own little war which was the war with the Russian air force. Did you get discharged when you came bac,. BE11O00HID Yes, I as discharged but in those days you ere supposed to stay on in the reserves for a certain number of years. I remember sitting at home and deciding hat 5 to do, and I got this packet of field manuals about the recoilless rifle. They said you have to keep up your reserve status by staying current. I felt so disgusted, I took that bunch of books, rapped them up, and sent them back. I said I don8t ant ever to see one of these things again. 1etters ent back and forth even after I got in the Foreign Service, but they finally gave up on me and released me. CD You were now eligible for the 0I Bill.