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The Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project MARILYN GREENE Interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: October 9th, 2012 Copyright 201 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in New York State Syracuse University; Northwestern University; junior year in France European travels Marriage and divorce Journalism career Gannett Foundation Asian Studies Program, Hawaii Ithaca Career with Gannett Publishers Husband’s career Al Neuharth’s JetCapade (1988) tours and interviews Saudi Arabia US Ambassadors Lech Walesa Wojciech Jaruzedski Somalia Haiti Cameroons Condoleezza Rice Soviet Union (1988710002 4ashington, DC9 Reporter ith (annett Ne s Service 101671010 Al Neuharth background Hus,and-s position JetCapade tour ith Ne harth Neuharth intervie s ith leaders Mom,asa Kenya Israel and 4est Bank Teddy Kollek 4hite House Congress 1 University of Ha aii (annett-s history USA Today Editorial policy 4ashington, DC .4hite House reporter for USA Today 101071006 Travels ith President and Mrs. Bush Intervie s ith staff Mrs. Bush Intervie s Bush family mem,ers State dinners James Michener State Department Foreign am,assadors Asia Fello ship .10032 Foreign assignments Vietnam Agent Orange Em,argo PO4-s Soldier intermarriage Political prisoners Missing in Action .MIA-s2 Hanoi ar museum Dr. Nguyen Dan Que “the Hanoi HiltonA Terry Anderson Reconciliation (eorge Esper 3e Van Bang (ulf 4ar9 Dhahran, Saudi Ara,ia and Ku ait .10012 Desert Storm SCUD missiles Morality police 3ocal customs Female restrictions Environment Dependence on US military Ku ait visit .devastation2 Alcohol use Ku ait oil fires Relation ith locals Ku ait 5oo “Road of DeathA Ku ait reception 2 Am,assador Skip (nehm Ku aiti eBpectations Non7Ku aiti residents 3ack of food Under fire Press briefings 4ashington, DC9 4hite House, Congress, State Department reporting Ko,e, Japan earthCuake Non7government agency help Tsunami damage “ParachuteA journalism (or,achev visit Yeltsin visit US media vie s of USA Today Spirit of adventure Reporting under fire State Department reluctance 4ashington, DC9 EBecutive Director, The 4orld Press Freedom 100672003 Committee Foreign press restriction la s 4estern Europe Egypt and other Muslim countries Mohammed cartoon Eim,a, e Journalist (eoffrey Nyarota International Freedom of the press organi5ations Organi5ation mem,ers and o,jectives Types of government press restrictions Intervie s ith ADST and US Institute of Peace 3e,anon evacuation, 2006 ATTACHMENT 3ist of USA Today headlines on stories by Marilyn (reene, 101171003 INTERVIEW $: Today is the 9th of October, 2012. This is an interview with Marilyn (reene. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and I*m Charles Stuart Kennedy. Marilyn has already done a series of interviews for the Foreign Service Institute, and as a newspaper reporter by trade she will be wor,ing with us. And so one, to e-plore, to open up to her as sort of our process that we do too, but also the fact that Marilyn has been on the international scene for some time and I*d li,e 3 to pic, up your e-periences there. So it*s a two.fer, because Marilyn will be wor,ing with us. So to begin with, when and where were you born/ (REENE9 I as born in Upstate Ne York, at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, on June 2, 1045. My parents tell me I as conceived in a tent on a camping trip over 3a,or Day 4eekend of 1044. $: 0eah, those tents are dangerous. (REENE9 I gre up in Clifton Park, a to n bet een Al,any and Saratoga Springs, Ne York, in Saratoga County. $: Oh yes, is the 1nion Hotel there/ (REENE9 Ah yes, it is, in Saratoga Springs. $: 0eah, I went to 3illiams College, which is .. (REENE9 Right across the border. $: .. just over the hill. It*s nice to get up there from time.to.time. (REENE9 Very beautiful. $: 3ell, all right. 3ell, let*s start sort of on your father*s side. 3hat do you ,now about your father*s side of the family/ 3here*d they come from/ 3hat were they up to/ And how did they get to where they were/ (REENE9 4ell, let me start out by saying both my parents ere osteopathic physicians. My father, Philip (reene, as born in Oneonta, Ne York, and gre up in Utica and Oneonta. His mother died hen he as 11 and he as shipped off to his grandparents and had a very difficult childhood after that. His brothers and sisters ere sent else here, so he as on his o n ith these people. They had come a couple of generations before that from (ermany, and ere very strict and stern. My dad decided at some point that he anted to go to medical school, but had no financial backing. So he orked for the United States Post Office in Oneonta to pay his ay through school, and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy here he met my mother. My mother, M. Eli5a,eth Peck, came from a long line of Scots7 English ancestors, many of hom ere born and raised in Saratoga County. Her great7 great7great7grandfather founded the Baptist church neBt door to the house I gre up in. And there ere many families by the name of Peck living around there. $: 3ere there any family recollections of a little bit of trouble you had there up in Saratoga bac, in .. 4 (REENE9 5laughs6 Oh, in the Revolution. 4ell, the church founder, A,ijah Peck, did participate in the Revolutionary 4ar as a 107year7old drummer. But I don-t believe it as in the Battle of Saratoga. $: 3ell, did you grow up in Troy or was mainly it in Saratoga Springs/ (REENE9 4ell, the only reason I as born in Troy as because my parents had their medical offices there. But they actually lived in a place called Clifton Park Center. They both had offices in the house there, as ell those in Troy. Clifton Park as a to n here both my grandmother and grandfather Peck ere to n clerk at some point. I alked to a one7room schoolhouse for the first three grades, ith my brother and sister. After that, the system as centrali5ed and e ent to a big school. $: How was that as to Saratoga Springs/ 3as it close by/ (REENE9 It-s a,out 15 miles south of Saratoga Springs. $: 3ell, let*s tal, a bit about a one.room schoolhouse. I mean this is one of these schools that is, you ,now, one always hears about. But how did it wor,/ (REENE9 4ell, there ere eight grades in there. One teacher. And I honestly don-t kno ho she kept the other classes busy hile she as dealing ith first or second grade. But I think e al ays had reading or eBercises to do. And Miss 4eatherill kept a pretty firm control over things. $: So in many ways you were probably e-posed over your head. (REENE9 Yes, but it as great. 4e learned the Palmer Method of cursive riting$ there ere samples of it on placards placed around the room, a,ove the black,oard. There as also a lot of reading aloud, hich as onderful. All eight classes could benefit. $: 3ell, one of the things I*ve learned is that the Palmer Method now is called 9cursive writing: and our daughter said, 93hen you*re writing to the grand,ids, could you print out your stuff/ Because he*s not used to reading cursive writing,: which I find just incredible. But there .. OK 5laughs6. 3hat was the town li,e for a ,id/ (REENE9 It as mostly rural. My grandfather lived across the road and had dairy co s and cats and dogs and ba,y pigs. He used to cut ice from a pond in the inters, and sell it to people for their ice boBes. That as before my time, but that as one of the things he did. He as also the to n clerk and postmaster. 4hen my mother as in medical school, she had kind of an odd sense of humor. She sent home a human and that had come from a cadaver they ere orking on in anatomy class. Unfortunately, it leaked in the mail. And hen the postmaster, i.e. her father, received it he as not very happy at all. That as 5 just one of the stories from our family. My mother had four brothers, and I suppose she thought this ould interest them. $: 5laughs6 Did you all live in one house/ (REENE9 For a time, before I as born, my mother and father, brother and sister shared a house ith my mother-s brother and his family 77 ife, son and daughter. Plus, my parents had their medical offices upstairs. I can only imagine ho cro ded it as. My father fussed at hoever as cooking if they boiled ca,,age or any other smelly thing, ,ecause of the patients. Shortly before I as born, my parents bought an old general store building that as directly on the rural road. There ere scales under the road, for farmers to eigh their goods for the store. My parents transformed the store, over the course of a,out t o years, to a house for us and offices, dressing rooms and a aiting room for their practices. Our maternal grandparents lived across the road. 4e used their property to raise our o n horses, co s and sheep. 4e also had pet Bantam chickens, oodchucks, sCuirrels, ra,,its, hamsters$ and t o raccoons, named (eorge and John, after my mother-s older t in brothers.

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