The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR ULRIC HAYNES JR. Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 20, 2011 Copyright 2011 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in New York Barbados family background Amherst College, Yale Law School Racial segregation E)ecutive Assistant, New York State Commissioner of Commerce Averell Harriman Geneva, Swit,erland- European Office, .nited Nations 190121909 3ilitary and Police Officer Recruitment for . Palestine Peacekeeping 3ission Detailed to . Development in Guinea Drafting constitution S4kou Tour4 The French African leaders 5Soapy 6illiams7 Africa tour Lagos, igeria- Ford Foundation 191021911 Assistant to Regional Director for 6est Africa, . Development Program Harriman Africa 3ission to Emerging Nations Guinea Drafting constitutions Racial staffing of .S Embassies Assignment of black officers abroad State Department policy re appointment of black officers Relations with .SAID eed for foreign language fluency Harriman report Patrice Lumumba assassination Corruption 1 Tunis, Tunisia- Ford Foundation 1913 Entered the Foreign Service c1914 State Department- Desk Officer for Southwest Africa 1914 Fracas over denial of visa to transit South Africa Visit to newly independent nations Importance of tribal language skills Lack of French language skills ational Security Council; Africa Political Affairs 191421911 3onitoring political affairs in Africa 3cGeorge Bundy Organi,ation and staff orthern Rhodesia (ZimbabweA Vietnam Congo Africa oil resources Southern Rhodesia President BohnsonCBundy relations Teaching Civil Rights 3ovement, Tugaloo College Du Dlu) Dlan President Lyndon Bohnson State Department- Intelligence and Research, Africa c1913, 4 Ethiopia Somalia Bulius Nyerere Soviet .nionEs Lumumba .niversity E)ecutive Recruitment Firm, Spence Stuart and Associates 19112c1971 Recruitment of minorities 3inority categories Adjunct Professor, Harvard Business School Cummins Engine Company, Columbus, Indiana c197121970 Vice President, 3iddle East and Africa Columbus Engine Company, Teheran, Iran 197021977 The Shah Political Environment Ambassador Helms Security Social life Visits to Arab countries Training programs 2 Competitors Comments on President Carter .nited States Ambassador to Algeria 197721981 Ambassador Richard Parker Confirmation hearings Senator Richard Lugar French connections Police state Racial problems Relations Open snack bar French ambassador Oil and gas production American Business Club Polisario Relations 6estern Sahara Ambassador Angier Biddle Duke Iran hostage negotiations 6arren Christopher Alec Toumayan 5October Surprise7 HostagesE Algerian reception Lack of Arabic language officers President Boumedienne Local media Boan Bae, Israel and Bews BerbersCDabyles Agriculture Socialism Iranians Government competence Algerian military 3aghrebC3iddle East relations Tourism 66II cemeteries Career activities following Ambassadorship Cummins Engine Company; Vice President President, American Field Service International Student E)change Program Drake, Beam and 3orin ew York City Hofstra .niversity, Dean of School of BusinessCVice President 3 Adjunct Professor- Rollins College, .niversity of Central Florida and Florida Southern College 3embership in Organi,ations and noted in Publications INTERVIEW : Today is the 20th of April, 2011. This is notable in that it is Hitler$s birthday. HAY ES- Oh (laughs)' : And this is an interview with Ambassador )lric Haynes Jr. And it$s being done by telephone on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and I$m Charles Stuart Kennedy. All right, and you go ,, what ,, what do you go by- )lric or- HAY ES- I go by Rick, R2I2C2D. : .K. /ell, Ric1 let$s start at the beginning. /hen and where were you born- HAY ES- I was born in Brooklyn, New York on Bune 8th, 1931. So IEm soon to be 802 years2old. : 2ood, well welcome to the club. I$m 83 now. HAY ES- OhI 6eEre the oldest men in the worldI : Ah, yes' .K. /ell Ric1, let$s ,, let$s tal1 ,, let$s tal1 about on your father$s side. /hat do you 1now about them- HAY ES- 3y parents were both immigrants from Barbados, which was, at that time, the British 6est Indies. They came here in the first decade of the 20th century. They were naturali,ed citi,ens when I was born. : All right. /ell, what was your family up to bac1 in Barbados, way bac1- HAY ES- 6ell, they were landowners, small merchants, raised some sugarcane. They were not professional people. : And what ,, were your mother and father married in Barbados- HAY ES- No, they were married here in this country. 3y father and his family left Barbados at the turn of the century and went to live in Panama when they were constructing the Panama Canal. : .h yes. 4 HAY ES- And they set up a shop in Panama that catered to the large number of English2 speaking Caribbean workers of color on the canal. They used those workers because the American engineers could not communicate in Spanish with the available Panamanian labor. 3y grandparents opened a shop that catered to those Caribbean laborers, all of whom were people of color. The necessity for that was because the naval commissary would not allow non2whites to purchase supplies, food, and clothes at the commissary. So, the 6est Indians had to go into the open market to buy. Those were the days of very rigid racial segregation in the ..S. Armed Services. : And the Navy was even more rigid than most. HAY ES- YouJre absolutely right. It was more rigid than the other branches of our military. : Is your family of color- HAY ES- Yes. : Did you get any feel from your family and bac1 about being of color on Barbados- HAY ES- Oh yes, very definitely. And I still have family in Barbados so from childhood IEve been going back and forth, e)cept during 6orld 6ar II. : 7eah. HAY ES- Yes, in those days, up until I would say oh, after 6orld 6ar II, society in all of the British 6est Indies was pretty fairly segregated. There were signs, for e)ample, at the entrance to the Royal Yacht Club in Bridgetown, Barbados that said, 5 o Dogs or Colored People Allowed.7 : .h. HAY ES- So yes, they grew up in a very racially segregated British colonial society. It was not as bad as it was over here in the .nited States because at least they didnEt go around lynching people in the British 6est Indies. But, it was a segregated society. : /ell, did you get any feel for the school system and all- HAY ES- On the islandK : 7eah. HAY ES- The school system always has been outstanding. In fact, even today Barbados has one of the highest rates of literacy in the world. 0 : Did your parents tal1 about, you 1now, life on the island with pleasure or- HAY ES- They 22 oh, they remembered life on the island very pleasurably. Family life was very important and there was just not much interaction between the British colonial civil servants, and the local population on a social level. That didnEt mean that people were suffering. They simply learned the rules of the game and they lived by those rules. : /ell, did your ,, after this time while the canal ,, the canal was finished in what, 1808 or something li1e that- HAY ES- Something like that, yes. That was when my grandparents and father left Panama and came to the .nited States. 3y paternal grandparents were hired by the chief engineer of the canal, a man whose name, IEm sorry I cant remember his first name, was an Admiral Pratt. And he was from Belfast, 3aine. He hired my grandparents as nanny for his children and butler for him. So thatEs how they came to the .nited States. : So this was a Broo1lyn navy yard, was it- HAY ES- No, no, no. They went to Admiral PrattEs home in Belfast, 3aine. : .h, they went to Belfast, Maine. Ah,ha. How long were they there- HAY ES- Oh, I would say five to eight years and then they left and came to Brooklyn, ew York, where there was already a growing Barbadian community. : Are there any stories about their time in Maine- HAY ES- Nothing that I recall but the fact that they constantly complained of the cold weather. : (laughs) .ddly enough. HAY ES- And my aunt, my fatherEs sister, died of tuberculosis in 3aine. So it was not a place of very happy memories. : /ell, and then your parents moved to ,, HAY ES- 3y father. : 7our father. HAY ES- Yes, my father and grandparents. : /hat about your mother on her side- Did she come from a different bac1ground- HAY ES- No, she came from a small landholder background as well. 1 : /hat about education- HAY ES- 3y motherEs family moved 22 for what reasons I cannot remember 22 to 3aywood, Illinois when they came to this country. 3aywood is a suburb of Chicago. And my mother graduated from Proviso Township High School in 3aywood, Illinois. She, she had only a high school education. 3y father when he came down from 3aine in his late teens attended the College of the City of ew York, CC Y, for a while, but he did not get a degree. : Considering the era, your parents have moved fairly far up the educational latter. HAY ES- Yes, they did. For their time, yes. : For their time. I$m still interviewing people who are say around, in the 80s or so, where their parents, neither parent is a college graduate, often not even a high school graduate. HAY ES- Right. ow, the interesting thing about my, my father particularly, even though he had some college, he was not able to get employment at that time in New York City commensurate with his education. And he went to work (and stayed until he retiredA for the Socony 3obil Oil Company, now E))onC3obil, as a messenger. In those days, of course, even the telephone was new and everything was sent by messenger from office2to2office, and usually in handwriting.