Gleysteen, William H
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR WILLIAM H. GLEYSTEEN, JR. Interviewed by: Thomas Stern Initial interview date: June 10, 1997 Copyright 2000 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Beijing, China - missionary family Japanese occupation Yale University European trip - 1939 State Department - Executive Secretariat 1951-1955 Duties Secretary of State Acheson Operations Center President’s “Digest” McCarthyism and “witch hunts” Walter Robertson, Assistant Secretary Travels with Secretary of State Dulles Secretary of State John Foster Dulles China “offshore islands” issues International conferences Bedell Smith Presidential participation Congressional participation Secretary of State staff Taipei, Taiwan - Chinese Language School 1955-1956 Fellow students Taipei, Taiwan - Political/Consular/Economic Officer 1956-1958 Consular duties Joint Commission for Land Reform (JCLR) Ambassador Drumright Staffing Diplomatic relations with PRC - views Chiang Kai-shek “Good” guys versus “bad” guys 1 Political reporting Chinese (Taiwanese) new generation versus old Chiang Ching-kuo Taiwan “independence” issue “Peeping Tom” incident Sacking of U.S. embassy U.S.-Taiwan relations CIA operations U.S. assistance programs “Two China” policy Tokyo, Japan - Political Officer and Ambassador’s Assistant 1958-1962 Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II Staffing Japan-Korea relations U.S.-Japan Security Treaty Anti-American protests President Eisenhower visit canceled Embassy Tokyo’s distortions DCM William Leonhart Ambassador Reischauer Japan’s economy Views on Korea Japan-Taiwan relationship Japan-China (PRC) relationship Japan-Soviet relations Japanese leftists Japanese bureaucracy Hong Kong - Economic Officer 1962-1965 Staff Marshall Green Environment Contacts with PRC China watching - information sources “Great Leap Forward” fiasco China’s “Cultural Revolution” Personal views on Communist China Personal views on U.S. recognition of PRC China-Soviet relations Taiwan issue Vietnam issue Consul general-State Department relations U.S. influence on China Consul general reporting 2 Harvard University - Senior Training 1965-1966 “Bowie Seminar” of the Center for International Affairs Academic studies Speaking engagements U.S. Vietnam policy debates State Department - International Organizations (IO) - UN Political Affairs (UNP) Deputy Director 1966-1969 Personnel Joseph Sisco IO’s main task U.S. China policy Two China formula Nixon-Kissinger and China Arab-Israeli War - 1967 Ambassador Goldberg Policy clashes Public disillusionment of UN Pueblo incident Korea issue Don McHenry Micronesia Vietnam Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) UN debates - comments UN - an assessment State Department - INR - EAP - Director 1969-1971 Ray Cline Duties and responsibilities Briefings Secretary of State Rogers Relations with geographic bureaus Soviet-Chinese relations “Ping pong diplomacy” Indonesia Korea Taipei, Taiwan - Deputy Chief of Mission 1971-1974 Ambassador McConaughy Reporting differences U.S. recognizes PRC Kuomintang reaction to policy change Taiwanese public reaction U.S. continuing support of Taiwan China’s representation in UN 3 One China policy (Shanghai communiqué) Taiwan independence issue U.S. military withdrawal Taiwan planes for Vietnam Japan recognizes PRC U.S.-Taiwan relationship Ronald Reagan’s Taiwan visit Chiang Kai-shek Shanghai communiqué Kissinger influence on policy Chiang Ching-kuo Ambassador Unger Native versus Mainland Chinese Taiwanese Taiwan nuclear energy program Chung Shan Institute U.S. military presence CIA station MAAG DCM-ambassador relationship Press leaks State Department - EAP Bureau - Deputy Assistant Secretary 1974-1976 Assistant Secretary Phil Habib Kissinger influence China relationship Taiwan immobilization Deng Xiaoping Taiwan diplomatic relations PRC discussions President Ford China visit Mao Zedong visit China internal struggles Congressional visits to China Taiwan security issue Importance of China issue Kissinger and China China and Japan Tanaka-Lockheed scandal Kissinger neglects Japanese “Koreagate” South Korea’s Park Chung Hee Kim Dae Jung’s kidnaping U.S. forces in Korea Korea and nuclear proliferation Relations with Kissinger Korea lobby in U.S. 4 U.S. intelligence in East Asia National Security Council - East Asia 1976-1977 Brent Scowcroft Korea demilitarized zone “tree cutting” incident Carter Korea troop withdrawal pledge Mao Zedong’s death Atmosphere President Ford National Security Council influence State Department - EAP Bureau - Deputy Assistant Secretary 1977-1978 Richard Holbrooke Secretary of State Vance Duties and responsibilities Staff China-Taiwan issue Normalization (China) issue PRM 24 Brzezinski Vance China visit Soviet aggressive policies U.S.-China arms sales issue Vietnam State-National Security Council differences Brzezinski’s China visit U.S.-Taiwan relationship Taiwan Relations Act Carter’s Korea policy Korea troop withdrawal issue NSM 13 Japan’s nuclear energy program U.S. Far East balancing act U.S. military relationships Human rights issues CODELs Administrative duties Holbrooke’s interagency groups Korea - Ambassador 1978-1981 Ambassador-CINC relationship “Koreagate” Ben Civiletti’s inquiries Managing the embassy Embassy-State relations Interagency relations 5 Park’s assassination Rice Korea’s economic issues Korea’s military USIA program North-South Korea relationship Park Chung Hee President Reagan’s policy change Final Remarks Responsible assignment Changes in Foreign Service Politicization of system China changes U.S. image abroad Annex A Japan-Korea normalization of relations INTERVIEW IMPORTANT NOTES FROM THE CONTRIBUTOR : 1) Although Tom Stern, my colleague and interviewer, has only recorded a few of his questions to identify chronological periods of my service, he actually asked me endless questions at each session. All of them were thoughtfully prepared to stimulate my responses. 2) I must remind readers of this material that it represents my memory of events and points of view, not necessarily the final verdict of history. My memories need to be checked against those of other actors on the stage as well as against the extensive documentation for this period. 3) If readers wish to quote material from this "oral history" during my lifetime, I request that they ask my permission before doing so. In addition, I must remind users that they, not I, are responsible for making sure that the material quoted is considered unclassified under U.S. Government regulations. Commenting 20-50 years after the events, I am relatively confident I have disclosed no secrets, but the onus of making sure that I have not done so lies with users, not with me. *** Q: I am delighted to have this opportunity to talk to my old boss. We appreciate greatly your willingness to participate in our Oral History project. Let me start with the usual question: What is your background - birth, early childhood, education, etc? 6 GLEYSTEEN: Two obvious influence pushed me toward a Foreign Service career: being raised in Asia and having parents with a very international point of view. I was born in Beijing (known to me as Peking), China in 1926 just before Chiang Kai- shek and the Kuomintang briefly unified China. My parents were Presbyterian missionaries. While my father was an ordained minister and my mother was also very committed to her faith, they were professionals - school teachers, not evangelists. For a number of years my father was the principal of a large Chinese middle school for boys, which had a variety of self-help schemes permitting bright but indigent students to attend. My parents were great believers in the moral and practical virtues of physical labor for intellectuals, a concept alien to the Chinese scholar class in those days. Although it might have been better for me, I didn't attend the missionary school. Along with most other Americans I was sent to the Peking American School where I received an excellent education. Many of my fellow students were Chinese, but the teachers were American and the language of instruction was English. I was in China at the time of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese controlled Beijing, having captured it in 1937, and we immediately fell under their control. After a relatively brief period of house arrest, we were released to remain within the city under rules that kept us apart from our Chinese acquaintances. About a year later we were sent to an internment camp in Wei Xian, Shandong - a fairly rugged experience. From there we were eventually repatriated to the U.S. - after a very long voyage on a Japanese troop ship to Goa, India and then the Gripsholm to New York by way of South Africa and Brazil. After getting back to the States in December 1943, I went to Westtown Friends School in Pennsylvania for one term. Although I had missed most of my formal high school education, I had been tutored by superb teachers and Westtown was very generous in allowing me to graduate after one term. I was in the Navy for about two years first as a V-12 student and then as an enlisted man. After the war, I attended Yale, got a BA in 1949 and an MA in 1951 before going to work for the Department of State. During summers I worked as a laborer to supplement my meager financial resources at school. I was a merchant seaman in the summer of 1947, exposing me during that contentious year to the Taft-Hartley Act and the process of labor unions evicting communist elements within their ranks. There are several ways my childhood experiences influenced