The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Program Foreign Service Spouse Series PEARL RICHARDSON Interviewed by: Penne Laingen Initial interview date: September 29, 1987 TABLE OF CONTENTS Dakar, Senegal 1 56-1 5 Foreign Service and first post: Extensive number of postings Courtship and marriage First post in Senegal Trip down the Niger President de Gaulle ,ndependence of Senegal Cooking in Senegal -arketing Entertaining Trip to -auritania Trip to Guinea The Commandant. de Circl. in Conakry The Senegalese culture The French Petit blancs Saigon, /ietnam 1 5 -1 61 Assignment to /ietnam The first coup Ambassador Eldridge Durbrow Aide to the Ambassador Eti0uette and protocol in Saigon The French in /ietnam Trip through the Delta Trip to Angkor 1at in Cambodia 2eaving /ietnam Tehran, ,ran 1 38-1 3 Transfer to Tehran, ,ran Finding an Apartment 1 The arrival of Ayatollah 6homeini Security precautions Furnishing the apartment Anti-Americanism Trip to Afghanistan Attitudes toward foreign women in ,ran and Afghanistan Trip to ,sfahan and Shira7 The 8ale7 S0uare Riot -ourning INTERVIEW Q: I see, Pearl, that yo have been in twelve posts and in every continent, except North America ... R,CHARDSON: And Australia. Q: B t yo were (in the) Far East; yo were (in) E rope ... R,CHARDSON: Southeast Asia, not Far East, /ietnam. ;: /ietnam, Europe. R,CHARDSON: Europe. Q: So th America, ,aribbean, and Middle East. or what do yo call Iran, Near East. R,CHARDSON: Near East and Africa. Q: Africa. 0hat1s the main one. And I was very interested. Do yo thin3 that1s a record. 0welve posts in thirty years. R,CHARDSON: No, there are some people who have had more, but , think it's a nice record. Q: I thin3 it1s fantastic. I was wondering if that isn1t the norm for cons lar posts. R,CHARDSON: , don't know, , really don't know. Q: Anyway, it was impressive to me, beca se we had very few posts and always came bac3 to 4ashington (in between) so I can only list three posts. (la ghs) R,CHARDSON: (laughs) Q: 5o 1ve been b sy. 2 R,CHARDSON: 1ell, at one time we wanted to come back to 1ashington, and they told Cy that the law that was in effect was already too late. You couldn't be retroactives and, therefore, you go on to your next fifteen years. Now we're back in 1ashington. Q: B t yo didn1t mind all that traveling, pac3ing. R,CHARDSON: No. Q: 5o never fo nd it diffic lt. R,CHARDSON: No. Oh, as , get older , think packing and unpacking gets difficult, but ,'ve enAoyed every place ,'ve been. ,'ve loved going there and, in general, ,'ve loved moving around. Q: 5es. I see, too, that yo got married in November and went right off to Senegal ... to 2a3ar. R,CHARDSON: A week (later). Q: Had yo ever been overseas before. R,CHARDSON: No, ,'d never been out of the Bnited States, except for a weekend in Canada once. Q: And how did it go. R,CHARDSON: 1ell, it went well. , always said years later that ... the way , phrased it was ... that if , could survive the first year of marriage without what , called third-party distractions, which means no concerts, no television, no theater ... which for a New Yorker is hard ... married to a man that , really didn't know. Q: I beg yo r pardon. (la ghs) R,CHARDSON: 1ell, how well did , know CyC Our courtship consisted of his coming up from 1ashington on weekends, and , really didn't know him. So we had the added thing of getting to know each other and moving, not only out of the Bnited States, but to a place where there was absolutely not a single friend, not one, and , didn't speak the language. Q: And what was the lang age. R,CHARDSON: The language was French. And neither one of us spoke French, so it was difficult. Dut not Senegal. The Senegalese are so friendly that you can make mistakes in French. , took lessons, and it didn't matter. 1ith the French, who were in evidence there, 3 it didn't matter if you made mistakes as long as you spoke 0uickly enough and they thought you were fluent. Now, Cy's French was much better than mine, but he spoke more slowly to make sure it was correct, and the French automatically turned off their ears. , spoke, just spoke, and , made my point and everything was fine. , traveled alone before the two years were out ... to Guinea ... and , was able .... , didn't understand news broadcasts, but , was able to tell the Commandant. de Circl. that , thought something important had happened, because everybody seemed so excited. He said that was all right. 1e would listen to the radio that night and, yes, it was something very important. De Gaulle had just said FAlgeria for the AlgeriansF, and General -assu and the others were threatening to parachute onto Paris. Q: 7h. R,CHARDSON: Dut anyway, Senegal is a lovely, lovely country. And we'll get a chance now in the ,nspection Corps to inspect Dakar. ,'ve been back once on our way to another post in Africa, but not to stay. The Senegalese are among the most gracious people. Q: 0hen yo co ldn1t have been l c3ier to start there, really. R,CHARDSON: Yes. Dut it's very interesting. That weekend, when , told Cy, oh yes, we could get married, as soon as he left with his ride back to 1ashington, , jumped into a cab and went up to a girlfriend of mine, and , said, F2ook. Cy just left. , told him , was going to marry him, but ,'ll call him tomorrow and tell him it's all off.F And she said, F1ait, Pearl. 2et's paint the worst possible picture.F She said, FYou get to Dakar. You can't stand the heat (, hate the heat, though ,Gve spent so many years in the tropics). You don't like the people. You don't speak the language. You don't like the Foreign Service. Dut, worst of all, you've found out you don't like Cy ... F Q: (la ghs) R,CHARDSON: She said, FYou get on a plane and come home.F And , thought that was one really simple explanation. (laughs) Q: (la ghs) And what a wonderf l friend. R,CHARDSON: Yes, which put it in perspective. Now, the most amusing thing that happened in Senegal was that two of the secretaries at the Consulate General were going either up the Niger or down the Niger ... , think it's down the Niger. The period of the trip was falling during our first anniversary, which is November 25, and they asked me if , wanted to go. Cy said, FOf course you want to go.F People later asked me, FHow could you leave your husband on your first wedding anniversaryCF And my answer was, F, hoped there would be more anniversaries, but it was probably my only chance to go down the Niger River.F E Q: Right. 9ery good answer. R,CHARDSON: And we had a marvelous time. 1e're now married 31 years, so obviously ,Gve had more than one anniversary, and you'll find this (trip down the Niger) the first. Q: Exactly. How were things there politically at that time. R,CHARDSON: This was before ,ndependence. 1e had the great pleasure of having de Gaulle come when they were taking a Referendum of whether the old Afri0ue Occidental Francaise were going to stay with the French or were going to become independent. And de Gaulle was absolutely very impressive, to hear him get up on a balcony and say, F,f you want ,ndependence, take it.F ,t was just very, very impressive. And 2eopold Senghor was President and he's a renowned poet, but , must admit they were not there to greet de Gaulle. Yet Sekou Toure in Guinea was going to vote FnoF and was there to tell de Gaulle in person, FnoF. Dut the Senegalese are lovely, lovely people. You know somethingC As far as ,'m concerned, the best food is found there. Q: Is that right. R,CHARDSON: They can do fish and rice. The only place in the world where there is marvelous fish. The market had a /ietnamese fishmonger, and , would go down and say, F, would like eighteen fillet of sole, this si7e or that si7e, for next Tuesday.F And ,'d come down next Tuesday and pick up the fillets. The cost of living was very high. At that time, Senegal was, , think, the second highest post we had in the Foreign Service for cost of living. Caracas was first. Q: 4hen were yo in ,aracas. R,CHARDSON: , wasn't, but Caracas was, at that time, first. And , think ,'m excluding -oscow, because , really don't know where the ,ron Curtain countries came in there, but Senegal was the highest. You could get anything you wanted, because the French liked to eat. , had as good cheese, smoked salmon, anything , wanted, that , could find in Paris, but you paid a price for it. Everything was imported, but , remember distinctly it was the same price when you bought a kilo of apples or grapes or plums or whatever it was. They were all the same price. Dut if you wanted it and you were getting an allowance to help defray the cost and you did have to eat, you had it. Q: Did yo do the mar3eting. R,CHARDSON: Yes. 5 Q: 7r did yo have a domestic.