The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR JOHN H. HOLDRIDGE Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: July 20, 1995 Copyright 199 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Brooklyn, New York; raised at Army posts in U.S. and abroad Dartmouth and West Point Military duty in )orea Entered Foreign Service , 1.40 1ornell University , 1hinese language training 1.40,1.4. Harvard University , 1hinese language and area training 1.4.,1.20 Bangkok, Thailand , information Officer 1.20,1.23 5Manhattan 1oup5 1hinese contacts 1ommunist terrorists 6im Thompson7s disappearance 8ocal politics U.S. presence Hong )ong , integration officer 1.20,1.29 1hina watchers Method of operation Dalai 8ama :Tibet) 1hina7s press )uomintang Mc1arthyism Singapore , political officer 1.29,1.20 Independence British control 1onsul General Durbrow 1hinese demographics in Malaysia David Marshall 1 8ee )uan Yew Department of State , 1hina and Taiwan desk 1.20,1.92 Assistant Secretary Walter Robertson Taiwan Straits crisis U.S. support of Nationalist regime in Taiwan Formosa Resolution Hong )ong , political officer 1.92,1.99 Mainland Reporting Unit The 5Great 8eap Forward5 disaster 1hina and USSR relations Tibet issue Department of State , I R/RSA 1.99,1.9. Aietnam 1hina and its neighbors 1hina7s 51ultural Revolution5 ational Security 1ouncil 1.9.,1.73 U.S. , 1hina policy ISSM7s Morton Halperin S1 operations iCon, the NS1 and State Al Haig Pathet 8ao Special Guerilla Unit :GRU) 1IA activities U.S. 5incursion5 into 1ambodia Staff resignation over 5incursion5 AietnamiDation Program Henry )issinger PhoeniC Program The Gnam : iCon) Doctrine Imelda Marcos The Philippines iCon7s world tour iCon White House distrust of the Foreign Service )issinger7s 1hina visit )issinger7s 6apan visit 1hina and Aietnam Soviet relations Okinawa )issinger and NiCon 2 Singapore 8ee )uan Yew U.S. military leadership in Aietnam arcotics Beijing, 1hina , Deputy 1hief of U.S. 8iaison Office 1.73,1.72 OrganiDation of office Ambassador David Bruce Accommodations Aisas to communists issue 5Scoop5 6ackson U.S. visitors 1hinese political infighting Environment Relations with 1hinese George Bush Mike Mansfield visit The Gang of Four Philadelphia Orchestra visit MayagueD episode Soviet relations Mao Tse,tung Diplomatic community )im Il Sung Singapore , Ambassador 1.72,1.70 U.S. military facilities 8ee )uan Yew Break from Malaysia Political situation Human rights issue arcotics The 1..0 Faye case Patt Derian visit David Marshall David Rockefeller visit , 1..9 1IA , Office of Emergency Management 1.70,1.01 Human Intelligence 1ollection , 1hief Duties and functions ational Intelligence Officer for 1hina U.S.,1hina relations 1hina and North )orea U.S. and 6apan relations Fuel supply lines 3 State Department , Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs 1.01,1.03 Taiwan/1hina issue Secretary of State Al Haig F,29s for Taiwan 11 AA and State Department Relations with NS1 President Reagan and 1hina U.S.,1hina commercial relations U.S. arms sales to 1hina and Taiwan 1hina7s U.S. 1onsulates Huong Hua, 1hina7s Foreign Minister 1ancun heads of state meeting Taiwan Relations Act Aice President George Bush7s tour of East Asia , 1.02 6udge 1lark 1ongressional relations U.S.,6apan relations , 1.01,1.02 U.S.,6apan trade relations Mutual Defense Treaty with 6apan U.S./South )orean relations 1hun Doo Hwan Relations with the Philippines , military facilities Imelda Marcos U.S., ew Eealand relations U.S.,Thailand relations 6akarta, Indonesia , Ambassador 1.03,1.09 Mort AbramowitD President Soeharto 8ane of the Sea problem Indonesia,1hina relations Indonesia,Taiwan relations 1A8TEF problem F,19s for Indonesia Retirement 1.09 1hairman, Board of Advisors, Harvest International INTERVIEW $: Today is July 20, 1995. This is an interview with John H. Holdridge, being conducted for the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. 4 Could you tell me where and when you were born and a little about your family* HO8DRIDGE: Too many years ago, 1.24, in Brooklyn, New York. My father was an Army officer and at that time, stationed at Governor7s Island. The Prospect Park area is where my family tells me that they lived at the time. It was within an easy commute, I presume, by subway or ferry to Governor7s Island, which was the headHuarters, I believe, of what they called The First 1orps area in those days. $: Did your father come from a military family too* HO8DRIDGE: No, my father was what you might call one of those who sort of pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. He was originally from Pontiac, Michigan where his father, I suppose, had something to do with the automobile industry but also tried farming for a while in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And my father was not, shall we say, too well financially endowed. But he worked his way through high school and then he ran into someone who took a liking to him, thought the young man had possibilities, and got an appointment for him to West Point. So he managed to survive that ordeal. He graduated in the class of April 1.17. That curtailed only three months or two months from the original full four year course that was shortened because of the entry of the United States into World War I. So, he went from there, he chose the cavalry and was stationed in Fort Bliss along the MeCican border. Really nothing very much happened down there. $: The Pancho ,illa thing was all over by then* HO8DRIDGE: That was all over and done with. By then, he had married my mother, a Brooklyn girl, and they set up housekeeping at Fort Bliss, TeCas. But I didn7t arrive on the scene for a while. After being in Fort Bliss for a period, he was then sent to the army of occupation in Germany and was stationed in )oblenD and in Paris. And my mother had some wonderful memories of life in those days. The poor Germans, of course, were starving to death because of the reparations put on them by the French, but the occupation troops lived in a little, insulated world that was very pleasant indeed. It was like the occupation of 6apan after World War II or Germany after World War II. And then my father was ordered back to the United States, temporary duty at Governor7s Island, when I came along. Then he became an assistant professor of history at West Point. So my first four years, really, were spent at West Point, from 1.24 to about 1.2.. $: -et.s sort of continue on. From after you left in .29, where to* HO8DRIDGE: Fort Riley, )ansas. And from Fort Riley to duty in 1hicago with, I forget what particular corps headHuarters was located there, just down by the 1hicago stockyards. And my father was one of those who was involved in the training of reserves and National Guard units. Among other things, of course, there were also some regular army posts there, Fort Sheridan was not too distant from 1hicago. The area really 5 encompassed Huite a broad section of the north central part of the United States. So we were there, let me see now, until 1.32. And then he was transferred to Fort Bliss, TeCas. $: Bac1 again* HO8DRIDGE: Back in that area, although by this time he had transferred from the cavalry to the Adjutant Generals Department. He became Post Adjutant at Fort Bliss, TeCas and also Adjutant of the First 1avalry Division, which in those days was still riding horses, believe it or not. The 02nd Field Artillery, the 7th 1avalry, the 0th 1avalry were also stationed at Fort Bliss. I think there were a number of small cavalry posts, I can7t recall precisely what regiments were involved, stationed along the American,MeCican border. This goes back to the days of Pancho Ailla again, at Fort DA Russell and Fort Brown and so on. And in addition to his other duties as Post Adjutant, he was also responsible for overseeing the 111 in that part of the world. $: The Civilian Conservation Corps. HO8DRIDGE: That is correct. So we had a very lovely time at Fort Bliss. For a while, we lived off the post and then on the post in a house, a beautiful old, Aictorian, Gothic,style, right neCt to the commanding general7s Huarters. But all things have to come to an end and in 1.34, he was ordered to the Philippines. Fort Stotsenberg, it was called in those days. It became better known later as 1lark Field. And there we had a regiment of Philippine Scouts cavalry, the 29th 1avalry, a regiment of Philippine Scouts artillery, the 24th Field Artillery, and uniHue in the US Army, Battery A, 23rd Field Artillery, which was a mountain gun battery. Since the US Army didn7t have any mountain guns already made in US arsenals, they were using captured World War I artillery from the Austrians. But anyway, we had a wonderful time in the Philippines, very eCciting and in a sense, rewarding to my father not only professionally but financially because he was paid in dollars. A dollar, in those days, was worth two pesos, and a peso in the Philippines could buy as much as a dollar could buy. We were able to save enough funds so that at the conclusion of the tour in 1.37 my father was able to make arrangements to get us up to 1hina. We took a Dutch boat from Manila, sailed to Hong )ong, spent some time there in which we got to 1anton, went up the coast, a brief stop in Amoy, then a few days in Shanghai, then over to )obe, 6apan, then to Tokyo, and then went to )yoto and then from there, back by the way of Osaka to Tungku, we use to call it, what is now the new port of 1hina where the river that runs through Tianjin comes out into the Yellow Sea.