Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project CLARKE N. ELLIS Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: January 26, 1998 Copyright 2 1 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Boston, Massac usetts; raised in Massac usetts, California, and Was ington, DC University of Redlands; Salzburg, Austria; )o ns Hopkins *SAIS, - Bologna .ntered Foreign Service - 1012 Munic , 3ermany - Rotation Officer 1012-1014 Naples, Italy - Consular Officer 1014-1017 Consul 3eneral Homer Byington .conomy NATO State Department - Bureau of Public Affairs - News Officer 1017-1010 Robert McCloskey Secretary of State news summary Prague invasion Si8 Day War State Department - Foreign Service Institute - .conomic Studies 1010 Asmara, .ritrea - .conomic Officer 1010-1071 9agnew station Rebel conflict .t iopia policy AID University of Mic igan - .conomic Training 1071-1072 Study course State Department - Investment Affairs 1072-1075 OPIC O.CD 1 Soviet Lend-Lease Amendment WWI debts .8propriations Laurel-Langley Agreement International .nergy Agency negotiations Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Hickenlooper Amendment Multinationals Vienna, Austria - .conomic/Commercial Officer 1075-1077 Macroeconomics Customs cooperation agent Zuric , Switzerland - Consul 3eneral 1077-1080 Commercial promotion National War College 1080-1081 Taipei, Taiwan 1081-1084 American Institute in Taiwan Operations Programs )ames Lilley U.S. interests C ina relations State Department - Investment Affairs Office - Director 1084-1087 OPIC Negotiations C allenger disaster Code of Conduct negotiations Bilateral Investment Treaties C ina negotiations State Department - Bureau of .ast Asian Affairs - 1087-1080 .conomic Policy - Director Asian economic growt Asia Pacific .conomic Cooperation *AP.C, )apan P ilippines Taiwan C ina Rosslyn, Virginia - American Institute for Taiwan 1080-1003 Deputy managing director .conomic and scientific relations 2 Negotiations 3ATT U.S.-Taiwan relations Taiwan-C ina relations Taipei language sc ool Taiwan students to U.S. Taiwan lobby Military sales State Department - .conomic Bureau 1003-1004 Negotiator for .nergy C arter Treaty Soviet buildings burned Issues )ackson-Vanik Act Naples, Italy - Consul 3eneral 1004-1007 .mbassy relations U.S. interests Politics Issues U.S. military INTERVIEW $: To begin with, can you tell me when and where you were born and something about your family( .LLISC I was born in Boston, Massac usetts, on August 24, 1030. My fat er was an engineer, w o graduated from MIT. He was a naval officer during World War II and, after World War II, we moved out to California w ere I was primarily raised. My fat er, owever, was called back into t e Navy during t e 9orean War, and we moved back to Was ington and t en back out to t e West Coast. So, I was a semi-Navy junior growing up. $: )here did you go to school in California( .LLISC I went to t e University of Redlands in Redlands, California for my undergraduate work. $: Before that, where did you go to high school( .LLISC I went to t ree years of ig sc ool in Fullerton, California, and I finally graduated, because weDd moved again, from O8nard, California. 3 $: )hile you were in elementary, middle school, and high school did you have any interest in foreign affairs( .LLISC I always loved istory. I became a stamp collector and a coin collector. I was fascinated by istory and foreign countries. $: You were going to school there during the 19, s. Did the world intrude very much on your primary and secondary education( .LLISC Not really. T e only t ing was, because of t e 9orean War, my fat er was called back into t e Navy, and we ad to move back to t e east coast. $: )hen did you go to the .niversity of Redlands( .LLISC I was t ere from 1057 to 1011. $: Did you have a ma0or there( .LLISC Ees, I was a government or political science major. T e most important year of my undergraduate education was my junior year. T e first semester I spent ere in Was ington, DC, at American University under w at t ey called t e Was ington Semester Program. T at was a very stimulating semester, learning ow t e U.S. government functioned and all t e interest groups t at play into our government function. T e second semester of my junior year I spent in Salzburg, Austria, on a semester abroad program. T e first semester ad convinced me t at I was interested in government service. T e second semester wit t e wonderful e8perience t at I ad in .urope convinced me t at I wanted to go into t e Foreign Service. $: How did you 2now about the Foreign Service and did you have any contacts with the 3oreign Service( .LLISC No, but I knew t at t ere was a diplomatic service, and I ad been taking courses in college. I ad ad a course on U.S. diplomatic istory. $: You graduated in 1961. )ere you at all caught up in, say, the Kennedy fever that came out about wor2ing for the government, and did it hit your class and you( .LLISC O , yes, very muc so. I remember a Los Angeles television station coming out after it ad announced t e new presidentDs initiative on starting a Peace Corps. T is was in t e early part of 1011. Someone came out and was asking a w ole group of students w o mig t be interested in t e Peace Corps. I remember t at I was one of t e people t at raised my and. Certainly, if I adnDt gone into t e Foreign Service, t e Peace Corps mig t ave been an alternative. $: )ell, did you ta2e the Foreign Service e4am( 4 .LLISC I took t e Foreign Service written e8am w en I was a senior in college. I found out t at I ad passed t e written e8am after I ad already made arrangements to ave graduate study at t e )o ns Hopkins Sc ool of Advanced International Studies Bologna, Italy Center. $: So you went to Johns 1op2ins then. .LLISC So, t en I took my oral e8am in )uly or August of 1011, and I passed. T en I went off and did a year at t e Bologna Center of t e )o ns Hopkins Sc ool of Advanced International Studies before I entered t e Foreign Service in )uly of 1012. $: Do you recall any of the 5uestions that particularly struc2 you during the oral e4am( .LLISC Ees. T e first two Fuestions really set t e tone of t e e8am and probably caused me to pass it. T e first Fuestion was, GMr. .llis, w ere is Odessa, and ow would you get from Odessa to New EorkHI Well, I ad remembered someone telling me w o ad taken t e Foreign Service e8am t at t e e8aminers were interested in making sure you knew somet ing about your own country and not just about overseas. Wit t at in my mind plus t e fact t at IDd ad a very close friend in college from Odessa, Te8as, I began e8plaining to t e e8aminers ow you go out from Odessa, Te8as, by w ic ig ways to New Eork. Well, t eir jaws dropped and t ey said, GWell, t is is very interesting, Mr. .llis, but we ad really meant Odessa, Russia.I Well, I did know w ere Odessa, Russia, was, or t e Soviet Union, and I was able to tell t em ow to get from Odessa to New Eork. T ey said, GWell, Mr. .llis, you seem to know your geograp y. If you are very good on geograp y, tell us w ere is Pus tustan and w at is appening t ere.I Well, I ad no idea w ere Pus tustan was or w at was appening t ere e8cept for t e fact t at literally t e day or two before I been at t e dentist. And, w ile waiting in t e waiting room for t e dentist, t ere was a copy of Time magazine, w ic I was flipping t roug . I ad seen an article about t e border unrest between Pakistan and Afg anistan and ow Pus tu tribesmen on eit er side were fig ting. Well, t ere again, I was able to e8plain t at. It seems t at t ey were surprised at t e answers to my first two Fuestions and, after t at, it was a pleasant conversation t at didnDt last more t an a alf an our. After consulting among t emselves for five minutes, t ey told me I ad passed. $: That6s remar2able. You hit it just right. )here did you ta2e the e4am( .LLISC I took it in Los Angeles. $: You went out to Bologna in 196171962. Can you tell me a little bit about that school( .LLISC Ees, t e )o ns Hopkins Sc ool of International Studies, Bologna Center, was set up in t e 1050s, I believe, wit substantial elp from t e United States government. T e idea was to get young American and .uropean graduate students toget er to talk about economic and political cooperation, to train, if you will, a new generation of leaders w o would be involved in international politics and economics for t eir respective countries, and to ave a common base in s aring and understanding w at was appening in .urope, 5 in particular, and w at it would mean. It was a very far-sig ted idea by C.