The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Foreign Affairs Series AMBASSADOR WILLIAM T. PRYCE Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: September 22, 1997 Copyright 2007 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in California raised in Pennsylvania Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Tufts University US Navy Department of Commerce Entered the Foreign Service in 1958 State Department* Fuels Division Economic Bureau/Staff Asst. 1958-19.0 Ara0-1srael policy Assistant Secretary Thomas 2ann Frances Wilson State Department 3atin America Bureau 4ARA6 19.0-19.1 Cu0a-Bay of Pigs 2e7ico City 2e7ico* Consular Officer/Staff Aide 19.1-19.8 Protection cases President 9ennedy:s visit River boundary disputes Relations Government 9ennedy assassination State Department* Staff Assistant 4ARA6 19.8-19.5 Dominican Repu0lic intervention Organization of American States 4OAS6 Am0assador Tapley Bennett State Department* FS1 Russian language training 19.5-19.. 2oscow Soviet Union* Pu0lications Procurement Officer 19..-19.8 1 3enin 3i0raries Travel formalities 9GB Baltic nations Brezhnev Am0assador Thompson Environment Pu0lic contacts Soviet intelligentsia Panama City Panama* Political Officer 19.8-1971 Arnulfo Arias Panama Canal Treaty Canal operation Relations US sovereignty questions Noriega Torrijos Guatemala City Guatemala* Political Counselor 1971-1974 Security Government Elections Environment USA1D 2ilitary Political Parties State Department* Soviet E7change Program* 1974-197. Educational and cultural E7change programs 9GB Program evaluation The National War College 197.-1977 Special Assistant to Am0assador Bunker 1977-1978 Panama Canal Treaty Negotiations History Pentagon interests State Department interests Congressional interest Am0assador Bunker Sol 3inowitz Treaty issues Speech writing 2 Panamanian government 2e7ico City 2e7ico* Political Counselor 1978-1981 Relations Cu0ans Drugs 1nsurgency Government Political Parties 3a0or Am0assador Gavin 1mmigration 3a Paz Bolivia* Charge: d:Affaires* DC2 1981-1982 Government Cocaine Biolence Panama City PanamaC Deputy Chief of 2ission 1982-198. Canal Elections Government Relations Noriega Cu0a Reagan policy US military The School of the Americas Deputy Representative to the OAS 198.-1989 Am0assador Richard 2cCormack De00ie De2oss Bolivia/Chile dispute OAS anti-drug unit 4SECAP6 Honduras mining National Security Council Directorate for 1nter-American Affairs 1989-1992 President Bush and 3atin America OAS and Human Rights US-2e7ico history OAS inertia Dominican Repu0lic Panama incursion President Bush involvement Noriega pro0lem 3 President Bush visit to Costa Rica Nicaragua elections National Endowment for Democracy President Carter NAFTA Guatemala in 1971-1974 Haiti Aristide Enterprise for the Americas Brady Plan 9arla Hills 2e7ican narcotics traffic Am0assador to Honduras 1992-199. Civil-2ilitary balance A1D President Callejas US military presence School of the Americas Sta0ility Relations Summit of Americas NAFTA Retirement 199. INTERVIEW DNoteC This interview was not edited by Am0assador Pryce prior to his deathE Q: Today is the 22nd of September 1997. This is an interview with William T. Pryce and it is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. To begin with could you tell me something about when and where you were born and something about your family) PRFCEC 1 was born in San Diego California the son of a naval officer. 1 really grew up in a little town where both my mother and father and all four grandparents were born Evans0urg Pennsylvania a small town a0out 50 miles east of Pitts0urgh. Q: When were you born) PRFCEC 1 was born Guly 19 1982. 2y early years were as a navy junior following my father. 1 spent half a year in China in Tsingtao before the ban was lifted. 1 spent a little 4 time in 2anila then 1 spent time on the West Coast then always back to Evans0urg which is where my roots were and are. 2y father was a su0marine commander first in the Pacific and then later he was the operations officer for the Twelfth Fleet under Admiral Stark. 1 spent all the war years and most of the years after that in this small town Evans0urg Pennsylvania. 1 went through grade school and high school there. Q: In the first place, how much of a flavor of the navy did you get) PRFCEC Huite a bit. O0viously my earliest memories were su0marines su0marine tenders and naval bases. 1 can remem0er taking the ferry from 2anila to Cavite where the naval dispensary was. 2y mother took me over there as a child. 1 always had a great admiration for the navy and 1 pro0a0ly would have gone to the Naval Academy if 1 had good eyesight. However 1 didn:t have good eyesight and so 1 didn:t go into the navy. 1 thought 1 wanted to be a lawyer. 2y grandfather was a lawyer in this small town and had the ideal of a country lawyer. 1 went to Wesleyan University with the idea of becoming a lawyer and while 1 was there 1 became fascinated with international relations. 3ooking back on it 1 realize that my father had encouraged me to be involved in international affairs. He had served as the naval mem0er of the National Security Council and had been involved in political military affairs. He was the naval mem0er of the four power peace commission that wrote the peace treaty with 1taly. 1 see now that my father seeing that 1 pro0a0ly wasn:t going into the navy - so gently that 1 didn:t perceive it - sparked an interest in international affairs which grew while 1 was in college. 1 gradually shifted from pointing towards law school to looking towards diplomacy. 2y interest e7panded and my professors sort of pushed me in that direction. 1 got a scholarship to the Fletcher School of 3aw and Diplomacy and from then on my direction was the Foreign Service. Q: Let+s go bac, just a touch. While you were a young lad in Pennsylvania, what ,ind of boo,s were you reading) PRFCEC 1:m trying to remem0er. 1 remem0er now that even in this small town there were a num0er of classic books that 1 read because they were part of the course. 1 remem0er reading Shakespeare which was a standard requirement in high school years. 1 remem0er reading Dostoevsky. Bery much 1 remem0er reading news magazines. We got The New Fork Times on Sunday which 1 read very thoroughly. 1 think Time 2agazine was one of the things that 1 read a lot. 1 have to reflect on it. Q: .ow about during the war years, you were about eight or so) PRFCEC 1 must have been a0out eight or nine or ten that:s right. 1 remem0er then having a map. 2y earliest memories were wondering what had happened to my father who was a su0marine commander in the very first part of the war in the Pacific. He had had some very harrowing e7periences. One of the things 1 remem0er when he came back from patrol he finally came back to the States 1 guess a0out nine months after the war 5 had begun 1 remem0er trying to get him to talk a0out his e7periences which he really didn:t want to do. He gave some flavor of being depth bom0ed depth charged by ships that were basically trying to sink his su0marine. That is a memory which is vivid to this day. Of course we greatly admired him but we worried a0out what was going to happen to him. Q: Was he in one of the old S boats) PRFCEC E7actly. Q: Pig boats. PRFCEC Fes pig boats that:s right. As a matter of fact one of my earliest memories is taking an unofficial dive in an S boat in Tsingtao har0or. 1 am amazed that you know a0out the S boats. Q: My brother was class of 010 at the Naval Academy. I was a teenager in Annapolis, that+s my hometown. PRFCEC 1t was his first command as a lieutenant. He pro0a0ly was a0out 82 or 88 years old and he was the commander of the S-88 which was an old pig boat. Gust as the World War was starting 1 remem0er my mother my sister and 1 were in Hawaii and we were evacuated from Hawaii starting on Decem0er 2nd. 2y father had gone to sea on patrol. As you pro0a0ly already know now a lot of people thought that this war might happen and he went out. He then had a spear fish which was a modern attack class su0marine and we were on a transport going back to Evans0urg. Now that you are mentioning it 1 remem0er as young children - 1 must have been seven or eight - going up on the decks and watching the anti-aircraft guns. Our ship had to maintain radio silence and our captain went off the standard sea ways because 1 guess we at that point thought there were a lot of Gapanese su0marines lurking and waiting to sink us. We took a very circuitous route and as 1 remem0er it it either was a standard five day voyage which took us ten days but 1 think somehow it took us a0out 20 days. We could hear the news but we were not allowed to transmit and 1 remem0er we were reported as 0eing sunk because we were overdue. When we finally got to San Francisco they thought that we had fallen prey to Gapanese shipping. 1 remem0er the train ride going back across the continent from San Francisco to Evans0urg and settling down in this small town which is a very supportive town. 1 also remem0er how supportive this small town of 4 000 people was. Friends of my family the fathers who were not in the war taking a special effort to make sure that 1 was included on hunting trips or fishing trips especially or that when they were going to basket0all games some0ody thought to bring me along.