The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project DONALD A. KRUSE Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 17, 1997 Copyright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Philadelphia area Wheaton ollege, University of Pennsylvania U.S. Army Entered Foreign Service - 1957 A-100 course Toronto, anada - Administrative Officer 1957-19,0 U.S.- anadian relations -u.embourg, -u.embourg - Economic0 ommercial Officer 19,0-19,1 Ambassador 2ames Wine Issues and environment State Department - Staff Assistant to Deputy Under Secretary 19,1-19,5 Duties uban 4issile risis Ale.is 2ohnson Black aucus Dean Rusk 6eorge Ball 7ennedy assassination Paris, France - Deputy Political Advisor - U.S. I8 EUR 19,5-19,8 harles de 6aulle 7ennedy-Diefenbaker relations Soviet :ech invasion Paris, France - Assistant to NATO Secretary 6eneral 19,8-1970 6eneral -emnit:er EU O4 and NATO relationship 8ATO vs. Warsaw Pact Serving the Secretary 6eneral (8ATO) 1 Intra-8ATO relations Brussels, Belgium - 4S 1970-1973 ommittee on hallenges of 4odern Society Environment issues and standards Personnel Patrick 4oynihan Duties Soviet relations State Department - anadian Affairs 1973-197, Tough dealing with anadians Boundary issues Prime 4inister Trudeau U.S.- anada relationship anadian military Quebec separation issue Submarine issue 2erusalem, 2erusalem - Deputy Principal Officer 197,-1980 Brookings report onsular district Israeli relations Palestine -iberation Organi:ation relations Relations with embassy ongressional interest Human rights reporting onsular personnel 4ayor Teddy 7olleck Israeli settlements issue American 2ews Palestinian attitudes Sinai Field 4ission - Deputy Director 1980-1981 Israel-Egypt Peace Agreement Enforcement Israeli attitudes 8ational War ollege 1981-1981 Assessment State Department - Personnel 1981-1984 Senior Foreign Service (creation) Foreign Service Act of 1981, 1981 Skills for promotion Women and minorities in senior ranks 2 6rievance process ABiddingB process -anguage officers Ambassadorial assignments Reagan White House views of State Department 4ilitary in National Security ouncil 8aples, Italy - Political Advisor to ommander in hief Allied 1984-1985 Forces South U.S. forces vs. NATO forces ommand structure French cooperation International forces Italian views 6reece and Turkey 6reeceCs Papandreou Soviet threat Dugoslavia Israeli element U.S. bombing of -ibya Achille -auro hijacking Ballistic missiles 8aples environment Si.th Fleet -ondon, England - Political Advisor to US I US8AEEUR 1988-1989 4iddle East Palestine -iberation Organi:ation relationship Why in -ondonF Retirement 1989 INTERVIEW Q: Today is the 17th of March 1997. This is an interview with Donald A. Kruse. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and I'm Charles Stuart Kennedy. Let's start at the beginning. Tell me when and where you were born. 7RUSE: I was born in Philadelphia in 1930. Q: Could you tell me a bit about your family) 7RUSE: We were Huintessential Philadelphians, I guess. 4y father and grandfather had 3 lived in Philadelphia. I was raised in the city for the first 11 years of my life and then we moved out to the suburbs in 4edia. I graduated from 4edia High in 1948 and then went onward to other places. 4y family continued to be based in Philadelphia. Q: Did your father and mother have occupations) 7RUSE: In those days, of course, my mother was mostly at home. I had one brother. 4y father was trained as a Presbyterian minister, but he had left the ministry by the time I came along. He was a bank officer for most of the time I was growing up. Q: You went to Media High School. ,hat was that li-e) 7RUSE: It was a nice little high school. I must say, back in those days, I felt I learned in a rather peaceful environment. I thought that the education I got there was decent. It prepared me for my college. We had a sense of community. It was a small high school. It had not yet been overwhelmed by the suburbs, which were gradually encroaching then. In fact, the high school no longer e.ists. ItIs been amalgamated into some bigger one. Q: You graduated from high school about 19.8) 7RUSE: ThatIs right. Q: ,hither) 7RUSE: Then I went out to college in Illinois at Wheaton ollege and majored in history. Those were the years--I was interested in foreign affairs. I was recogni:ing the aftermath of World War II. I think, probably, that began to get me my interest in the Foreign Service, just events that were going on around the world. Q: In history, did you have any particular field of concentration) 7RUSE: Not essentially, although my interest was deeply in American history. I did take a lot more courses in that than I did in European or others. Q: Did the foreign affairs raise any interest at ,heaton) You're in the middle of Illinois. 7RUSE: ThatIs a good Huestion. I think I was about the first in the post war era, e.cept for one other officer that I discovered later on who took the Foreign Service e.am. ItIs true that we had one earlier graduate of Wheaton, who many years before I got there had gone out as a missionary to Thailand. 7en -andon, husband of 4argaret -andon who wrote JAnna and the 7ing of Siam.J He was the one graduate that we knew had been in the Foreign Service. In fact, when I first came to Washington in 1951 just to kind of look around, he was the person that I first saw. So, we had that kind of a connection. But youIre right. There were not many people into foreign affairs, not many who were anything else but conservative Americans. 4 Q: So, you would have graduated from college in 1950. Then what) 7RUSE: Well, the Army was beckoning. So, I stayed it off for a year as I got my graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. I got a masters in political science. Within a year, I was in the Army for a two year stint which did not take me overseas. Q: ,hat were you doing in the Army) 7RUSE: The Army in its wisdom decided I would make a wonderful psychiatric social worker. 4y friends jokingly say that was one way for a psychiatrist to keep an eye on me. But I learned things about Rorschach tests and that kind of thing, which was elucidating. IIm not sure how much of it ever stuck with me. But the Army gave me something that I wouldnIt have done otherwise. Q: ,here were you doing that) 7RUSE: 4ostly in the south. I had a succession of places from South arolina to Te.as. Eventually, I actually got married in the stint in the Army. I took my bride to the unlikely sounding town of O:ark, Alabama. We then moved over to Enterprise, which probably sounds a little better. It was an interesting town. This is the town that has a statue to the boll weevil. ThatIs its distinction. The boll weevil made them switch from cotton to peanuts, some have been millionaires ever since. Q: So, you're out of the Army about '55) 7RUSE: Des. It was I53 to I55 that I served. Q: Then what) 7RUSE: I came back to Philadelphia. As soon as I got out of the Army, I wanted to take the Foreign Service e.am. I took it in I5,. In the meantime, I had gotten a job with a municipal research institution in Philadelphia called the Pennsylvania Economy -eague, a ta.payer supported group that was for good government. I have to say that, although it wasnIt unpleasant, I donIt think I could have stayed at local government very long. It just seemed not interesting enough, not broad enough based. Actually at that time, it was very interesting in Philadelphia. Finally, the reform people had come in of 2oe lark and Dicky Dilworth and thrown out what had been called the corrupt and contented government of Philadelphia. So, it was an e.citing time. But even with the e.citement, I didnIt think this was for me. Q: Before you too- the Foreign Service e3am out of the Army, did you run across any more people connected or reading about the Foreign Service) 7RUSE: I think maybe a few more, yes. In fact, I guess one or two of my colleagues did take it, but I donIt think any of them came in. I have not seen them since. Q: Did you pass the written e3am) 5 7RUSE: Des, I passed the written and then got myself set up for the oral, which was an interesting e.perience. In those days, they gave you a two hour oral. There wasnIt any Jin bo.J business. It was just straight interviewing, as you know. There was another fellow with me. We came up from Philadelphia to New Dork for the afternoon they were giving it. The other fellow had gone first. I didnIt know him, e.cept talking outside as we waited. He came back out and he indicated that he had not really known a lot of the subject matter that he was being asked about, but that he had attempted to kind of talk around it. I thought to myself, JThat doesnIt sound like the way to go.J I think youIre better off if you simply go in and tell them youIre dumb. I followed that scheme. It turned out when they called him in, they told him that they didnIt pass him for the very reason that he seemed to be devious. In my case, they figured I may be dumb, but at least IIm honest.