The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project JONATHAN B. RICKERT Interviewed by: Raymond Ewing Initial interview date: 17th December 2002 Copyright 2009 AD T TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Washington, D.C Princeton University; Harvard University US Army; Russian language study Entered the State Foreign Service in 1963 State Department; Operations Center, Various assignments 1963-196. President /ennedy funeral Operations 0ondon, England; Consular Officer 196.-1966 Environment Operations ,1P visitors 2osco3, Soviet Union; Staff Aide to the Ambassador 1966-1968 0iving arrangements US Ambassadors Duties ,1P visitors Relations Environment Entrapment attempts Arab-1srael Seven Day ar 2arriage State Department; Soviet and East Europe E6changes Staff 1968-1970 Program content Countries covered Security concerns Defections Operations 1 State Department, FS1; Romanian 0anguage study 1970-1971 Bucharest, Romania; Consular/Political Officer 1971-1974 ,isas 2edia translations Ni6on visit Consular problems 0ocal Americans President Ceausescu Relations Tito Diplomatic colleagues Soviet presence Human Rights US Ambassadors Environment Relations 3ith neighbors ,ienna, Austria; US Delegation to 2BFR (2utual and Balanced 1974-1976 Force Reductions), Staff Assistant Agency composition Duties Delegations Hubert Humphrey Environment Harvard University; 0abor studies 1976-1977 Harvard Trade Union Program Study programs Port of Spain, Trinidad; 0abor Reporting Officer 1977-1980 Environment Prime 2inister Eric illiams Personnel US economic interests 1ndians Relations Government 0abor Unions Tobago Jonesto3n refugees 0ocal press Diplomatic corps TDA to Surinam 2 State Department; Desk Officer for Trinidad, Guyana and Surinam 1980-1982 Congressional delegations Trinidad crematorium story Guyana US Ambassadors State Department: Romanian Desk Officer 1982-198. Ambassador David B. Funderburk 2ost Favored Nation (F2N) issue Je3ish emigration Relations Jackson-,anik Amendment Ceausescu Diplomatic pouch incident Environment Sofia, Bulgaria; Deputy Chief of 2ission 198.-1988 Staff Environment Security Government ,1P visitors Dictator, Chivkov Diplomatic Corps Permanently Restricted Areas Chernoble effects 1ndications of political changes State Department; Personnel Bureau; European and 1nternational 1988-1990 OrganiDations Assignments Operations Staff 2ember, Office of Senator Robert Pack3ood 1990-1991 Gulf ar Resolution /ing 2ichael visit El Salvador Operations Bucharest, Romania; Deputy Chief of 2ission 1991-199. ,1P visitors Elections US Ambassadors Environment Security 3 Opposition Political Parties Partnership for Peace Serbia sanctions Sanctions Assistance 2issions (SA2S) Relations 3ith Hungary President Emil Constantinescu Je3ish issues 0ocal contacts Government Communism ,isiting ,1Ps Ceausescu 0ocal staff Securityp0recautions Branch Office Cluj Ethnic Hungarians State Department of State; Director, Office of North 199.-1998 Central European Affairs Countries covered Office organiDation Personnel NATO enlargement Slovenian independence Romanian President 1on 1liescu visit to US Child adoptions Romanian Election observers US Ambassadors President Clinton Retirement 1998 Post Retirement 1998- Contract Employee 3ith the Department of State INTERVIEW ENote: This intervie3 3as not edited by 2r. RickertF ": This is a Foreign Affairs oral history interview with Jonathan B. Ric)ert. My name is Raymond Ewing. It+s the 17th of December, 2002. This interview is being produced under the auspices of the oral history program of the Association for Diplomatic tudies and 4 Training. o, it+s good to have this conversation with you and I+m loo)ing forward to tal)ing with you today. R1C/ERT: So am 1, thank you. ": Jonathan, I see that you entered the Foreign ervice in 19.3 after your undergraduate education at Princeton 1niversity and it loo)s li)e maybe some military service. I+m curious how 2 what 2 got in you interested in the foreign service in the first place and what else did you do before you came into the Foreign ervice3 R1C/ERT: Oh, thank you. 1 3as born shortly before 11 and gre3 up in ashington, DC, so 1 have an early recollection of involvement in international affairs through seeing it in the evening papers for e6ample that 3ould come 3ith the 0iebestrom through Europe 3here the current battle front 3as and those types of things. Also, my parents: my father 3as a high school teacher in the District and my mother 3as a house3ife as 3as common in those years. They had a number of foreign friends 3ho 3ould come to the house, particularly British, but also others 3ho spoke about the 3ar and 3hat 3as going on in other parts of Europe. 1 remember an early fascination 3ith maps 3hich 1 think is common amongst foreign service officers and also foreign stamps and coins. Another thing that 1 recalled and found in many cases is that the people 3ho 3ere attracted to foreign service are people 3ho are 3ith one another, 3ith somebody on the other side of the hill. ThereGs a certain curiosity involved 3ith beyond the horiDon that is common among people 3ho end up in this career. As 1 3as gro3ing up, 1 3as a choirboy at the ashington Cathedral and had the occasion to see various foreign visiting dignitaries. 1 remember the visitors Hueen EliDabeth and Prince Philip in the early I.0s, shortly after she became queen. And the visit of Haile Selassie of Ethiopia 3ho presented a Coptic processional cross that is still in use at the cathedral as far as 1 kno3. One of the most memorable things that happened in the I40s, late I40s, 3as about 1948. 1t 3as a time 3hen as a choirboy 1 3as there in the evening for a special service 3hich 3as to publiciDe and promote the European recovery program. Secretary of State 2arshall and John Foster Dulles 3ere speakers of that service and pictures 3ere being taken of them do3n in the crypt area belo3 the main level of the cathedral of the full service. And 1 had heard of 2arshall of course. 1 had not heard of Dulles. 1 pushed my 3ay for3ard to get a glimpse of the man 3ho 3as our top general during 11. 1 3as grabbed by the photographers and placed in the photograph 3hich 3as sent around the country by AP 3ire. 2y father laughingly called it: Kthree great Americans.L 1 still have a letter that 1 received from Secretary 2arshall. 1 3rote to him after3ards and received a very nice letter in response: a signed photograph and also ... 1 sent him a copy of the ne3spaper photograph as 3ell, 3hich he signed in pencil because pencil of course 3ouldnGt run. 1 have those at home as memorabilia. ": I+ve done 4uite a few interviews, I don+t thin) I+ve ever remember anybody saying they were a choirboy and had an encounter li)e that with the ecretary of tate. R1C/ERT: ell, itGs been do3nhill since then. ElaughF ": 5laugh6 7ell, it+s good to start at the top. R1C/ERT: But ... in high school there 3ere M in ashington M there 3ere several foreign diplomatsG sons as 3ell as FSOGs EForeign Service OfficerF sons 3hom 1 came to kno3. 1 roomed 3ith one in college for three years. 1n fact, t3o of my roommates became foreign service officers as it turned out. 1n college 1 3asnGt really focused on foreign service as a career but 1 3as interested in foreign affairs. 1 majored in American and European history and paid attention to things that 3ere going on in the international arena to the e6tent that 1 could. 1 3rote my thesis on post-3ar German history: my undergraduate thesis. 1 had an opportunity to meet 3ith Dean Acheson 3ho 3as there on a speaking engagement and they set up meetings 3ith people 3ho had thesis topics that 3ere relevant to his particular e6perience. So 1 had a half an hour alone 3ith him 3hich 3as set up by the university 3hich 3as very nice. Also 1 remember attending a session that 3as sort of a career-type of session chaired by 0ivingston 2erchant. 1 donGt kno3 his e6act title but he 3as very high up in the State Department hierarchy. So 1 graduated from college and 1 3orked for about a year and a half in the U.S. for an internationally oriented private military organiDation and 3ent in to the military in a reserveGs program. The program that 1 3as in involved a year of studying Russian at 2onterrey at the old Army language school. T3o of my friends had already passed the foreign service e6am and had been told that they 3ould be 3elcome to join the foreign service but they should do their military obligations first. After talking 3ith them, it just came about eventually that 1 decided to take the e6am 3hich 1 did in San Francisco; it 3ould have been 1961 or 1962. 1 took the 3ritten e6am and passed, 3ent back to San Francisco for Russian, took the oral e6am the first time and 3as intervie3ed by 3hat seemed to be a panel of economics officers 3hich 1 definitely 3as not and 1 did not pass. 1 took the 3ritten again and passed again ... in those days, if you could pass Russian or another language, you got five e6tra points 3hich in the second time 1 took the e6am 1 had enough Russian so 1 got the e6tra points on the 3ritten. And then at the end of my 16 months and 24 days in the Army, 1 returned to ashington 3here my mother 3as living and after a couple of months, took the oral e6am, passed it. So that maybe is a long 3ay of saying ho3 1 came to enter the foreign service. ": 7ell, growing up in 7ashington and the )ind of e8periences that you had, of course also Princeton 1niversity, you probably were heading toward the foreign service before you even reali9ed it, in a way many others of us only have the ha9iest idea of what it was all about in the same point of our career.