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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR C. WILLIAM KONTOS Interviewed by: Thomas Stern Initial interview date: February 12, 1992 Copyright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Raised in hicago area University of hicago, London School of economics U.S. Army, World War II Marshall Plan for )reece 19,0.19,3 0ohn Nuveen ivil )overnment Division )reek ivil War Relations 2ith Embassy Drachma devaluation Ambassador Peurifoy Foreign Operations Administration 19,3.19,9 Program budget officer Office of Organi5ation and Methods Africa 6 Europe Bureau7 E8ecutive Director 9FOA: Sri Lanka 19,9.1961 AID mission British legacy Local Environment U.S. Projects Relations 2ith embassy The Bandaranaikes Economic problems Lagos, Nigeria 1961.1964 Deputy director, AID mission U.S. AID programs Arthur D. Little contract 1igerian Federation 1 Relations 2ith embassy Sargent Shriver and Peace orps Problems Local Environment 1ation War ollege 1964.196, )eneral comments AID 196,.1967 Director of Personnel Organi5ation Recruitment Peace orps Pakistan 1967.1970 Director of AID Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad Embassy intrigue U.S. projects U.S. political goals AID 1970.1972 Program evaluation officer ultural barriers to progress onclusions re US foreign assistance efforts Technical assistance programs AF 1972 Deputy Assistant Secretary 1igerian affairs Biafra @starvationA 1igerian unity problems LebanonBs civil 2ar Policy Planning Staff 1974.1976 Winston Lord Operations Saudi.U.S. joint commission 0ordanBs @Black SeptemberA yprus Task Force U1 operations Ambassador Moynihan at U1 @Policy by speechesA Sinai Support Mission 1976.19C0 Operations of Sinai Field Mission 2 @E SystemsA role Observation posts Khartoum, Sudan 19C0.19C3 Ambassador Local political environment U.S. interests Internal divisions President Nimeiry U.S. assistance Do2nhill in Sudan orruption AID mission Policy planning council 19C3.19C6 African and U1 issues )eneral operations Human rights issues South Africa issue South Africa Advisory ommittee 19C6. 19C7 E8ecutive director omposition of ommittee Limited influence ongressional vie2s and reactions Relations 2ith State Department Problems INTERVIEW ": Let me first of all thank you for joining us in this enterprise. It will be a valuable addition to the Oral History Program. As is customary in these interviews, we start with a synopsis of your background. KO1TOS7 I 2as born in hicago and 2ent to grammar school there..a public school called Martha Ruggles. I 2ent through the first si8 grades there and then my mother decided to spend a year in )reece. She 2as eager to have me learn )reek and become fluent in it. )reece 2as the family point of origin. After a year, 2e returned and I 2ent through seventh and eighth grade at Ruggles. Then it 2as on to alumet High School on the south side of hicago. alumet had students in those days from a large variety of south hicago neighborhoods. The overflo2 2ent to a branch, Westcot, for t2o years and that is 2here I started high school. It 2as a smaller, more intimate atmosphere than the 3 huge alumet High School. At Westcot, I had the opportunity to be active in intramural sports and the school paper. It 2as a very congenial and friendly setting. After t2o years, I 2ent to alumet 2hich 2as considerably further a2ay and reDuired a time consuming commute. My t2o years at alumet 2ere blessed by an e8traordinarily good faculty, many of 2hom 2ere graduates of the University of hicago. They 2ere partial to that institution and 2henever possible, pushed their students to go that University, 2hich I did. I graduated from alumet in 0une, 1940 and enrolled that Fall in the University of hicago. I attended for t2o and half years and then I entered the Army. Before starting at hicago, I had the notion that I 2ould like to be involved in foreign affairs, in part because one of those e8traordinary teachers at alumet 2as a student of modern history. In the late 1930s, the Hitler.Mussolini pact 2as threatening the peace in EuropeE )ermany and Italy 2ere encroaching on other countries and territories in Europe and Africa. We had in those days a great ne2spaper in hicago, The Daily News, 2hich I read 2ith great care even as young high school boy. The Daily News had a splendid corps of foreign correspondents 2ho 2ere first hand observers and narrators of events in Europe. They helped nurture the idea that I should one day be involved in the government and specifically in foreign affairs. So there 2as a germ of ambition even in my high school days. I had an interesting career in the Army. The first phase took place at amp Wallace in Te8as, 2hich 2as an anti.aircraft personnel replacement training camp. I ended up in the intelligence part of the anti.aircraft branch. I 2as taught some basic aspects of surveillance, tracking, etc. But I also received considerable training in basic infantry matters..drills, cra2ling, firing, etc. The intelligence training 2as relatively primitive and very basic. amp Wallace 2as situated half 2ay bet2een )alveston and Houston. Whenever I could, I 2ould go to Houston 2hich had a very good recreation area..for e8ample, an art museum that held afternoon concerts. Houston 2as my refuge from the amp Wallace routine, 2hich I endured for si8 months. By the time I graduated from amp Wallace, the need for anti.aircraft officers had diminished sharply 2hen I applied for Officers andidate School. The Duota for anti. aircraft candidates from amp Wallace 2as one out of about 20,000 men. As it turned out, I 2as the first alternate to the one man 9a cadre sergeant: 2ho had been chosen for O S and therefore did not end up going. I 2as really devastated by this turn of events. For by applying for O S I had passed up a chance to go to Army Specialist Training Program 9ASTP:, 2hich 2as a great opportunity to broaden oneFs background in the Army. ASTP often included language and area trainingE some of my friends 2ent into 0apanese language training, some studied European languages. I 2as very interested in that, but having applied to O S, even if unsuccessfully, ASTP passed me by. I 2as then at the lo2est rung of the military hierarchy..not even part of a unit. I 2as a private available to assignment to any unit. The small group of us in this status 2ere sent to Fort 4 Meade, outside of Baltimore. Half of our group 2ent to IcelandE the other half, including me, ended up in Europe. So in the Fall of 1943, I spent about si8 2eeks doing various odds and ends at Fort Meade. Then I 2as transferred as a replacement for some unit in Europe. None of us kne2 2here 2e 2ould actually end up, because all of this information 2as classified. We boarded the "ueen MaryE because of the shipFs speed and her capability to move in a 5ig. 5ag course she 2ent alone 2ithout a convoy. We made it safely across the Atlantic to some unkno2n port in about five or si8 days..a horrendous journey because the ship 2as jammed to capacity. At noon, a loud gong boomed and 2e 2ould troop from the deck to our si8.tiered bunk rooms 2here 2e 2ere each given a color designating the dayFs meal setting. On the ne8t day, 2e rotated from bunks to sleep on the deck, 2hich 2as pretty damn cold. We landed at some indeterminate foreign port in the rain and 2ere herded together under the 2atch of a very disconsolate looking native. My companions urged me to speak to this fello2. I 2ent up to him and asked 2here 2e 2ere. He responded in a thick Scottish accent, 2hich may have been a form of )aelic. When I returned to my colleagues uninformed, I told them that I couldnFt understand the fello2 2ho spoke some kind of foreign language. It 2as Duite a 2hile before 2e learned that 2e had landed at )rennock, Scotland. In an unusually efficient manner, 2e 2ere put on trains and spent the night traveling in blackout conditions through the countryside to arrive at 2hat had once been a housing estate outside of Birmingham. It 2as a miserable day..cold, rainy, muddy. The conditions 2ere very primitive. We stayed there for a 2hileE 2ithin a 2eek or so, 2e 2ere assigned to our permanent units. My slip said that I 2as going to OSSA . No one kne2 2hat or 2here OSSA 2as. My friends thought it 2as a commando unit 2orking in combined operations. I had all of four months of infantry trainingE it 2as hardly sufficient for a commando operation, but I 2as resigned to go 2herever the fates 2ould take me. Three or four of us 2ere going to the same place. We 2ere put on a train and arrived late at night in London. We 2ere met by t2o huge MPs 2ho asked 2here 2e 2ere going. I said7 G OSSA G. They said7 GShhhH That is Top SecretG. We 2ere assigned to some kind of barracks and the ne8t morning taken to OSSA 9 hief of Staff, Supreme Allied ommand:. This 2as the precursor to Eisenho2erFs Supreme HeadDuarters. OSSA 2as a headDuarters being put together in anticipation of Eisenho2erFs arrival. When that happened, the name 2as changed to Supreme HeadDuarters, Allied E8peditionary Forces 9SHAEF:. I 2as assigned to the intelligence section, 2hich 2as a combined British.American unit. I spent a year in London 2orking under a glass skylight on the top floor of the Peter Robinson Department store 2hich 2as on O8ford Street adjoining O8ford ircle. We 2ere the center of intelligence collection and analyses prior to the invasion.
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