The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR THOMAS G. WESTON Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 4, 2005 Copyright 200 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in ichigan ichigan State University French University in Paris, France arriage Faculty member, ichigan State University Entered the Foreign Service in1969 (inshasa, )aire* Rotation Officer 1969,1971 .overnment AID projects obutu Economy US policy Environment 0onsular duties American missionaries State Department* Staff Assistant, European Bureau 1971,1971 .erman affairs France European Organi2ations Hallstein Doctrine Secretary of State Rogers State Department* FSI* .erman language study 1971 Bremen, .ermany* Economic30ommercial Officer 1971,1976 American enclave Political Parties Environment Relations Radical 4eft 1 Economic reporting Bremer3Bremerhaven port State Department* Office of Trade Agreements, E. Bureau 1976,1977 Tokyo Round NAFTA State Department* H. Bureau* 4egislative anagement 1977,1979 Oceans and Environment Studies 0yprus Relations 8ith 0ongress Human Rights State Department* .erman Desk, European Bureau 1980,1982 .reen Party Political Parties Intermediate Nuclear Forces Soviet Union tactics Neutron 8eapon Berlin Berlin .roup State Department* Deputy Director, 0entral Europe 1982,1981 US political Ambassadors Bonn, .ermany* Deputy Political 0ounselor 1981,1986 Intermediate Nuclear Weapons NATO Dual Track Decision 4ocation US military facilities East3West .erman relations European 0ommunity East .erman economy Berlin air corridors Environment Relations US Ambassadors Sharansky exchange Bitburg ceremony Schmidt30arter relationship State Department* Office of the Undersecretary for anagement 1986,1989 The 150 Account 0oordination 8ith 0ongress on State Dept. funding Foreign Buildings Office (FBO) Operations 2 US Embassy, osco8 Senior Seminar 1989,1990 Brussels, Belgium* Deputy 0hief of ission, European 1990,1991 0ommunity (no8 European Union) European 0ommunity enlargement aastricht Treaty Uruguay Round NATO French interests European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) Euro 0ore .ermany European economic integration US Policy 0ouncil of Europe State Department* Deputy Assistant Secretary, Europe and 0anada 1991,1994 European Union (EU) NATO enlargement Organi2ation 0oordination 8ith EU Armed force reduction Russians Organi2ation for Economic 0ooperation and Development (OE0D) Augoslavia conflict* European efforts Fello8ship of Hope Program OS0E ission 0omments re US coordination 8ith Europe French policy Detailed to .eorgeto8n University* Professor, School of Foreign Service 1994,1996 Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Students Non,.overnment Organi2ations (N.OBs) Otta8a, 0anada* 0hief of ission (0hargC dBAffaires) 1996,1997 .overnment Political Parties Separatists 0anada3Europe relationship 0hrCtien Relations Water issues 1 Free Trade Agreements Otta8a 0onvention NORAD ilitary cooperation World Trade Organi2ation (WTO) US expatiates 0ultural relationship Water European Advisor, US Delegation to the UN .eneral Assembly, Ne8 Aork 0ity State Department* Office of anagement 1997,1998 Office of Reorgani2ation Integration of State3USIA3A0DA State Department* Inspection 0orps 1998,1999 Bra2il Israel3Palestine Authority State Department* Ambassador* Special 0oordinator for 0yprus, 1999,2004 Summit 0oordinator Russian nuclear po8er Dayton Agreements 0yprus initiatives .reece3Turkey problems Turkey and Europe 0yprus and the United Nations Retirement 2004 Teaching at .eorgeto8n University 0onsultant on 0yprus INTERVIEW DNoteE this intervie8 8as not edited by Ambassador Weston.F $: Today is March 4, 2005. This is an interview with Thomas G. (eston. (hat does the G. stand for* WESTONE .ary. $: Gary and you go by Tom* WESTONE Tom. 4 $: Alright, well let+s start ,ind of at the beginning. Could you tell me when and where you were born* WESTONE I 8as born in 1944 in Detroit, ichigan. $: Alright, let+s tal, a bit about your family. Let+s start on your father+s side. (here did the (estons come from, grandparents and that sort of thing* WESTONE Well, 8hat I kno8 about the family basically starts in the mid,19th 0entury. The Westons emigrated from England. I think they 8ere basically peasants or yeomen farmers in England and they immigrated through 0anada to ichigan 8hen ichigan 8as being settled in the middle of the 19th 0entury. They basically stayed in the same area of ichigan until I came along a century later. That is, anyone from ichigan holds up their hand like a mitt and IBm from this area called the Thumb. $: The Thumb, I got you. (ell now, what were they, did they remain farmers* WESTONE They did until my fatherBs generation, completely farmers until my fatherBs generation. I spent time as a kid on my grandparentsB farmG $: (hat ,ind of farm was this* WESTONE A small family farm and in that area the cash crop 8as sugar beets. They 8ere basically family farmers, they gre8 their o8n navy beans and both feed for humans and pigs but had their orchards and their vegetable gardens and kept chickens and so on and so forth. A crash crop, sugar beets. $: (ell then, how about your father, what caused him to leave the farm* WESTONE The period 8hen he 8as gro8ing up 8as a time 8hen many family farms 8ere going out of business and being taken over to consolidate ever larger, 8hat is called agro business in ichigan. ost of these family farms, they just 8erenBt viable anymore and they got bought up. Aou can hear different reasons 8hy this happened. The 8hole area is still very agricultural but it is no8 fresh fruits and vegetables and really good agro business cooperation driving it. y father basically had to 8ork to help support the family. I think he 8as 11 8hen he started delivering sugar beets from the city to the mill. He basically left the farm and 8ent to Detroit to make a living and then stayed not really in Detroit but 8ent just north of it in Warren, ichigan. This 8as a small farming community then but he commuted in and 8as a factory 8orker for many years for Hudson otor 0ompany. So, I 8as born in Detroit but then gre8 up in Warren and 8ent to school there my 8hole life. $: I ta,e it, in your father+s generation, he didn+t go to college* 5 WESTONE No, no, he left school at eighth grade. No8 my motherBs family is a little bit different. They immigrated much later, also English, through 0anada but didnBt come over to ichigan until sometime around the turn of the last century, 1900 or so. She gre8 up basically in Detroit and 8ent through the depression. Her father 8as an architect but 8as also an investor 8ho lost everything in the depression. y mother and father met sometime 1919,B40, some8here in there, and got married. No8 my mother gre8 up under very strange circumstances in the depression. She 8ent to high school and then 8orked basically all of her life in the school system in Warren. She 8ent back to get a college degree, it 8as about the time I 8as in late primary school. She got her bachelors degree and actually 8ent back and started 8orking on her masters before she actually retired. So it 8as a different situation coming out of very different circumstances. $: How big was your family* WESTONE Immediate familyH IBve got a brother and a sister. $: (here did you land* WESTONE IBm in the middle, older sister, younger brother. $: (hat do you remember of family life in (arren* WESTONE Well, 8hen I 8as gro8ing up Warren 8as still a very small basically farming to8n so 8e, even gro8ing up, still gre8 all of our vegetables. There 8as only, I think, one paved road any8here close to us. I 8ent to an early primary one room school, sort of a classic mid,West farming to8n, gro8ing up. Then about the time I 8as in the 8th grade, I think it 8as, .eneral otors decided to build its 8orld headIuarters in Warren and bought up several sIuare miles of land. This part of ichigan is absolutely flat. Bought that up and developed their 8orld headIuarters and along 8ith that came a huge economic development. It is no8 just a massive, 8all,to,8all suburban community 8ith .eneral otors 8orld headIuarters in the middle of it. That 8as going on 8hen I 8as going through high school. But you asked about family life. I gre8 up, I guess, in a kind of classic family, father and mother, same father and mother, no changes, brother and sister. We all 8ent to the same schools. y mother 8orked in the school system as I 8as gro8ing up. If there 8as anything different, itBs that she 8orked her 8hole life at a time 8here I think especially 8here 8e 8ere, in rural ichigan, most mothers stayed at home. $: (hat about, say at home, was there much interest in the outside world, the news or not, or any discussions* WESTONE Outside 8orld meaning internationallyH $: /es, or even nationally. WESTONE There 8as a great deal of interest nationally and there 8as a great deal of interest in travel. Internationally it 8ould include 0anada. Both sides of the family had 6 this long standing relationship 8ith 0anada and this is important because eventually 8eBll get to the point 8hen I 8as the chargC in 0anada for several years. I gre8 up literally across the border from 0anada so it 8as very usual for us to go over for the day and go to Point Pelee and the beach, 8hatever, in 0anada. We 8ere very a8are it 8as a different country and in that part of 0anada it 8as very, very British at that time. y parents for 8hatever reason loved to travel and all the time 8e 8ere gro8ing up every summer 8e spent a couple of 8eeks going some8here else so that by the time I 8as, I donBt kno8, seventh or eighth grade, I had been in most states in the United States and often to 0anada. There 8asnBt any international travel but there 8as al8ays the interest to go places, see things, learn something ne8 especially 8here there 8ere other cultures involved.