The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project JOHN G. KORMANN Interviewed By: Moncrie
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project JOHN G. KORMANN Interviewed by: Moncrieff J. Spear Initial interview date: February 7, 1996 Copyri ht 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS World War II, ounter Intelligence Officer in Berlin 1945-1947 Search for Martin Bormann apture of )Axis Sally.) olum,ia -., BA, MA and PhD .or/ 1947-1950 Dissertation on -S Dena1ification Policy in 2ermany, 1944-1950. -S 3esident Officer in 2ermany 1951-1952 3e5uisitioning of Hohenfels Army training area 3elations .ith the 2ermans. Pu,lic Affairs Officer 1952-1953 Set up -S Press Service 8Ameri/a Dienst9 in Northern 2ermany. hief Editor, -S Press Service for 2ermany 1953-1955 3eplace officer removed by Mc arthy Supervise .ire service and 6 pu,lications Write speech for Am,assador onant shaping future 2erman army ongress attac/s boo/ program. Policy Officer for Eastern Europe at -SIA 1955-1956 The Hungarian 3evolution The Seago ommittee Policy deli,erations on exchanges .ith ommunist states. Program Officer, -NES O 1956-1960 Launching first -S satellite First -N agency meeting in West 2ermany First -N agency meeting behind the )Iron urtain.) Policy Staff, Bureau of Pu,lic Affairs 1960-1962 ommemorative Stamp ommittee; 1 The --2 affair The Berlin Wall -N report on )Freedom of Information in -S.) Political Officer, Em,assy, Manila 1962-1964 Flight to N. Borneo JFK assassination Bo,,y Kennedy IndonesiaAMalaysia mediation efforts a,ot Lodge visit and Bietnam .ar support Marcos inauguration and presidency. Principal Officer, Em,assy Bengha1i, Li,ya 1966-196C Safari to WW II B-24 bom,er lost in desert Six Day War and attac/ on Em,assy Staff loc/ed in vault Evacuation of Americans Dadhafi coup Officer-in- harge Li,erian and Sierra Leonean Affairs 1969 Potential po.der /egs Bisit to Africa. Political-Military Advisor for Africa 1969-1972 Pro,lems .ith high level military visits OMIDEASTFO3 naval port calls Ac5uiring Diego 2arcia Base Military assistanceAsales programs F-5s for Li,ya Pro,lems .ith ongress. Army War ollege 1972-1973 Thesis on Military Assistance to Africa. Political Officer, Munich onsulate 2eneral 1973 Tour cut short. D M and ounselor, Em,assy airo 1974-1975 Kissinger shuttle diplomacy 3eesta,lishing diplomatic relations Sue1 anal clearing Textile negotiations -S claims settlement Aid for Egypt 3eopening Alexandria onsulate 2eneral. 2 State Department mem,er of Intelligence ommunity Staff 1976-1979 hair advisory group to improve training and reporting Monitor assignment of reporting officers of government agencies .ith personnel overseas. 3etire to join national staff of )2eorge Bush for President 19C0 ampaign) INTERVIEW DE John, tell me how you became interested in Forei n Affairs and eventually became a Forei n Service Officer) KO3MANNE My interest in Foreign Affairs .as an outgro.th of my service in the Army in World War II. A fe. days after my paratroop unit dropped into 2ermany, I .as ordered to report to Division Intelligence. Someone must have ta/en note that I .as fluent in 2ermanE I became part of a team .hich had as one of its missions, the capture of high ran/ing Na1is. Then at .arFs end I .as su,se5uently stationed in Berlin in charge of a ounter Intelligence orps 8 I 9 field office. I had many dealings from 1945 to 1947 .ith the 3ussians, .ho .ere running espionage agents into the city, /idnapping 2erman scientists and involved in many other activities of interest to our organi1ation. It .as very exciting and at times made headlines in the ne.spapers. We .ere also detailed from time to time on special projects. One of my assignments .as finding HitlerFs deputy, Martin Bormann, another .as capturing )Axis Sally.) With Bormann .e had no success and I made a final report that Bormann died on top of a tan/ in the Neu/olln area of Berlin. apturing )Axis Sally) .as a success and created 5uite a stir in the -nited States, .hen .e brought her in. DE What happened after you left Berlin) KO3MANNE I returned to olum,ia in Septem,er 1947 to finish my college studies, complete a MasterFs and .or/ to.ard a Ph.D. For the latter, my dissertation su,ject .as )-.S. Dena1ification Policy in 2ermany from 1944 - 1950) an area in .hich I had some expertise, gro.ing out of my Berlin experience. Incidentally, the dissertation .as later pu,lished by the Department of State, by HI O2Fs Historical Division as a monograph in response to re5uests from ongress for information on dena1ification in 2ermany. DE That sounds great. Then what happened) KO3MANNE When the State Department .as loo/ing for personnel to become 3esident Officers to replace the Military 2overnors in 2ermany, my name .as suggested to State Department personnel. I joined the Department as a limited appointee on a five year contract in Septem,er 1950. After a fe. .ee/s of basic training .ith a group of FSOs 3 8itFs interesting to note that my .ife comments on this training in Je.ell Fen1iFs boo/ Married to the Forei n Service9 .e .ere sent to 2ermany. Once there, .hile the rest of the group received language and area training, I .as assigned immediately. First in Fran/furt at the Ameri/a Haus, helping Hans Tuc/ .ho .as the Ameri/a Haus Director, and then later in Munich filling in for Paul Dei,el, .ho .as the Operations Officer, the num,er three for the Field Operations Division for all of Bavaria. When Dei,el returned, I .as given Neumar/t as a county. Neumar/t is just southeast of Nurem,erg. I had t.o other counties in the area as .ell. It .as interesting governing this area, consisting of 600 s5uare miles .ith 100,000 people. As I reflect bac/ on my duty there, the greatest pro,lem I had during my tenure .as .hen the -nited States Army decided to re5uisition the Hohenfels region in my county of Neumar/t as a troop training area. This .as a vast, rough section suita,le for tan/ training. Ho.ever, it meant moving thousands of 2ermans from their ancestral homes; many families had lived there for C00 to 1000 years. ItFs interesting to note no. that .hen Hohenfels is mentioned to any American soldier having served in 2ermany, he rolls his eyes and thin/s of the training he received there, .hich more than li/ely .as not too pleasant. DE This must have caused some problems in your relations with the ,ermans, what happened there) KO3MANNE I recall very .ell a session of our Kreistag. Kreistag .as the county legislature. I remem,er the legislators .ere visi,ly upset by the thought that the -.S. Army .as going to move in and ta/e over this si1ea,le piece of property and thro. 2ermans off of the land. I recall giving an impassioned speech in 2erman to them saying, )Well fine, so you donFt .ant the American Army there, remem,er the 3ussians are just a short march a.ay. WeFll pull out and .eFll let the 3ussians come in. If thatFs .hat you .ant, be my guest.) O,viously the 2ermans .ere very unhappy hearing things li/e that and the Kreistag voted approval to turn the land over to the -.S. Army. DE What about some other aspects of the job) KO3MANNE Well, .e had all sorts of functions. We .ere 5uasi-magistrates, .e .ere the Pu,lic Affairs Officers, .e did all /inds of things in that jo, and it .as one of the most interesting positions I ever had in the Foreign Service. If you can imagine a junior officer coming into a post .here heFs going to have the finest house in to.n, an am,assadorial-si1e office, a Mercedes limousine .ith a driver and be given all sorts of responsi,ilities, .ithout any real supervision 8my ,osses .ere many miles a.ay9, one could not have as/ed for a better jo,. Ho.ever, this strangely enough did not suit a num,er of the ne. incoming Foreign Service Officers. Some of them actually )revolted.) I remem,er there .as a young Foreign Service Officer by the name of Ken Martindale, .ho led a protest and 1C Foreign Service Officers signed a letter to High ommissioner Mc loy saying they didnFt come into the Foreign Service to do that; they .anted traditional Foreign Service jo,s. Gears later, I often .ondered ho. they must have been enjoying their service in some of the Third World bac/.aters, stamping visas. For me, the jo, in Neumar/t, IFve often 5uipped, .as the best jo, I ever had and I .ent bac/.ards 4 from then on. I might say a .ord a,out the 3esident Officers, if anyone is really interested in .hat the 3esident Officers did, the Fe,ruary 1952 issue of Collier.s maga1ine put out a .onderful article on )DemocracyFs Best Salesman in 2ermany). It .as a lengthy piece, .ith pictures, on the -.S. 3esident Officer program. I might say immodestly, I feature largely in that article. DE I gather that all of this made /uite an impact on ,erman0American relations) KO3MANNE I remem,er .hen I left, I .as the last American Military 2overnorA3esident Officer to preside in the area and the 2ermans had several fare.ell parties for me. It almost loo/ed as if the )father figure) .as leaving them; they felt left all alone. Part of this of course, .as engendered by the attitude of the 3esident Officers, .hich .as a/in to being a ongressman.