Hart, Parker T
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR PARKER T. HART Interviewed by: William R. Crawford Initial interview date: January 27, 1989 Copyri ht 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Interest in Foreign Ser ice Fellowship in Gene a Early tra el experiences Entrance into Foreign Ser ice Bel%m, Brazil 1940,1943 Preparing for possi.le Nazi in asion Importance of Portuguese 0airo1 Saudi Ara.ia 1944,1942 Situation in 0airo Desire to join armed forces Opening consulate in Dhahran Situation in 3idda 0onsular duties in Dhahran Dealing with Saudi authorities 4earning Ara.ic Difficulties in esta.lishing consulate Situation in Bahrain Dealing with ARA60O workers 7S military presence in Saudi Ara.ia Heat pro.lems in work en ironment Tra els through Sahara Desert Relations with British Dhahran 1949,1982 0onsul General Search for em.assy1 consulate buildings before assignment Negotiations o er rent Importance of Dhahran to containment policy Situation at em.assy in 3idda 1 Relations with 7S military 6eetings with Sultan Said bin Taimur Situation in Bahrain Relations with ARA60O Oil rights dispute with British Director of Near Eastern Affairs 1982,1988 Near Eastern policy during Truman Administration Re olution in Egypt Dealing with Secretary Acheson Acheson and the Egyptian Re olution Dulles isit to Egypt 7S stance toward Nasser D06 in 0airo 1988,1988 Dulles relationship with Nasser The Baghdad Pact 7S role in Baghdad Pact Dulles;s offer of military aid to Nasser Aswan Dam project Withdrawal of Aswan aid offer Nasser;s reaction to failure of Aswan project E ents leading to Suez crisis British and French in ol ement British bom.ing of 0airo Situation in 0airo during crisis E acuation of diplomatic personnel 0onditions for dependents during e acuation Withdrawal of British and French Nomination as am.assador to 3ordan 0onfederations of Iraq and 3ordan 0onsul General in Damascus 1988 Origin of appointment Reorganizing with the American legation Dealing with A.dul Hamid Serraj Situation in 4e.anon 6arine landing in 4e.anon Henry 0a.ot 4odge speech at the 7N Dulles;s decision to inter ene in 4e.anon Deputy Assistant Secretary in NEA 1988,1921 William Rountree Iraqi re olutionary iolence Relations with Turkey 2 Tour of 6iddle East Greek,Turkish relations Secretary Herter Nasser;s relations with Saudi Ara.ia Prince Faisal and extra agant use of oil re enues Stress between King Saud and Prince Faisal Dhahran Airfield agreement Am.assador to Saudi Ara.ia 1921,1928 Origin of appointment 6eetings with Prince Faisal Search for accommodation between Faisal and the King King Saud;s trip to Boston for medical treatment President Kennedy;s meetings with King Saud 0hanging nature of 7S,Saudi relationship Kennedy,Faisal meeting 7S policy toward Yemen Imam Ahead Nasser and Yemen Faisal;s support of Yemeni royalists 7S recognition of the YAR Bunker negotiations with 7 Thant Operation Hard Surface in Saudi Ara.ia Termination of Operation Hard Surface Faisal;s assumption of power Saudi judicial system De elopment of Saudi tele ision 7S position in power succession Faisal as King Am.assador to Turkey 1928,1928 History of modern Turkey Role of military in Turkey 7S,Turkish military 0yprus pro.lem Political situation in Turkey 7S aid to Turkey Turkish la.or mo ement Education system in Turkey 6ilitary assistance to Turkey Kurdish pro.lem in Turkey 1974 Turkish inter ention in 0yprus Assistant Secretary for NEA 1928,1929 Origin of appointment 3 Ara.,Israeli dispute Efforts to open towards the Egyptians Israeli assassination ad air strike Nixon election and changes at State 0onclusion Director of Foreign Ser ice Institute 6iddle East Institute 0hanges in the 6iddle East Importance of understanding foreign cultures APPENDIA: CFaisal D A Perspecti e of 1948,1928E by Parker T. Hart INTERVIEW &: Peter, what got you into the Forei n Service* HART: While I was nearing the end of my sophomore year in college at Dartmouth, I .egan to wonder what I was going to major in for my junior and senior years. A Rotary friend of my father,,my father was a strong Rotarian in Boston,,happened to sit with me at a dinner one e ening and he asked me what I was going to do when I got out of college. I said, GI ha enHt the slightest idea.G He said, GWhat do you like to doIG I told him I liked to tra el. I had had quite a lot of tra el due to the generosity of my father and had gone on some rather remarka.le trips by that time. So I told him that thatHs what I would like to do. He said, GWhy donHt you go into the Foreign Ser iceIG I said, GWhat is itIG He then told me a little a.out it and said that he thought there was a booklet on examinations gi en. So when I got back to Dartmouth, I talked to my student counselor and he brought out a copy of an old examination record which they pu.lished in those days. He said, GI think you ha e to major in political science.G &: What were you majorin in at that point* 4 HART: I wasnHt majoring. In sophomore year youHre still not majoring. At least it was true at Dartmouth at that time. So I made the decision to major in not only what we call go ernment, political science, but also economics. They offered international law there and few other things that were o. iously necessary, although they didnHt ha e e erything that I needed. When I got out of college, I hoped to take the exams. They didnHt gi e them because we were in the Depression. There was a freeze on all employment. In fact, there was a cut across the board of 10% on 0i il Ser ice and Foreign Ser ice salaries. So I went home to my family, my father and mother, in 6edford, and signed up for courses at near.y Har ard and pursued these courses further. Still they didnHt gi e an exam, and so I got a fellowship to study in Gene a, Switzerland. While I was o er there, they ga e the exam and I missed it. So I came home and took it the next year in 1937 and I was commissioned in 1938. &: What were the forei n travels your father had made possible for you* HART: The first one was in 1927 to Panama where my sister and brother,in,law were posted. He was in the Army at Fort Sherman. That was one trip. The next trip was an exchange trip with Scandina ian students. I li ed in Scandina ian homes during the summer of 1928. In 1929 I went out to the West 0oast and tra eled all around the 7nited States. In 1930 I went to li e in the home of a 3apanese friend of mine in Tokyo who was returning after three years of study in the 7nited States. I li ed in his home in Tokyo for the summer and made trips around the country somewhat. That was the extent of my tra els prior to my decision. I had some more tra els after that. 6y father sent my mother and me on a trip to Europe in 1931 and, therefore, there was a great deal of tra el under my belt by the time I got started. It had stimulated me to want to know what makes the world tick a little more than the a erage student at that time. &: Obviously, your father and mother must have had a stron interest in.. HART: 6y father had a ery strong interest in making sure I recei ed the broadest possi.le education, but I donHt think he had thought a.out the Foreign Ser ice. He was a .anker who had worked his way up from being a bank messenger with a relati ely slender formal education, but he was self,made and self,educated and he wanted me to ha e these ad antages. He lo ed to tra el himself. He did a lot of it in later years. &: Did you have siblin s who had similar opportunities* HART: Not the same. I had two much older sisters. I was a late,comer in the family. One of my older sisters had married an Army officer and he was posted here and there and e erywhere so that they got in a lot of tra el. In fact, we almost con erged once in Rio de 3aneiro and later on in the 6iddle East. So it was around in the atmosphere but it was not 5 something which characterized peopleHs interests in those days as I remem.er them. Some of my fatherHs friends thought I was making a great mistake to go to work for the go ernment. He said, GYouHll ne er earn any money there. YouHll ne er get anywhere. YouHre just wasting your time, your life, and your patrimony to go into working for the go ernment.G &: Once you made your decision about majorin in political science and the related subjects, did you have any particular professor or professors whom you found particularly inspirin * HART: Yes. I would say more at Har ard graduate school than at Dartmouth, to be frank a.out it. IHm ery loyal to Dartmouth, my alma mater. The professors there were good but they were not particularly outstanding at that time, whereas at Har ard I had some outstanding teachers, particularly in the fields of history and the history of political theory.