T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E An Interview with John W. Limbert Former hostage, scholar and diplomat who is hoping for peace between Iran and the United States PART ONE BRIAN APPLETON Thank you, John for taking John W. Limbert attained the rank of Minister-Counselor in the United States the time to do this interview for Foreign Service after a 33-year career there. He was appointed Assistant Deputy Persian Heritage magazine.I Secretary of State for Iran in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs think the last time I saw you by the Obama administration. Among his last postings prior to retirement were was either at the US Naval Dean of the Foreign Service Institute’s School of Language Studies, Chief of Mis- Academy when we screened sion in Khartoum, Sudan, president of the American Foreign Service Association, Bam 6.6 with the film’s direc- tor Jahangir Golestan-Parast Ambassador to Mauritania and Director of Orientation at the State Department’s or at the World Affairs Council Foreign Service Institute in Washington DC. While serving as Ambassador to in San Francisco in 2009 Iraq in 2003, he was one of the first civilian officials to enter Baghdad with the when you were launching your Organization for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. latest book: Negotiating With His earlier postings include Algeria, Djibouti, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of He is fluent in Arabic, Persian and French. History. He was awarded the Department of State’s highest award-the Distinguished I am honored to do this. It is great Service Award and the Award for Valor after being held hostage for fourteen to speak with you again. By the way, I months in Iran. really like your new book about Western Of his hostage experience he stated that it taught him a new appreciation for his Azerbaijan. profession of diplomacy namely how do you solve problems between nations and between people? Thanks so much for endors- ing it. We have a lot of ques- He has written numerous articles and authored four books all on the subject tions for you that have not of Iran. He obtained a BA, an MA and a PhD in History and Middle Eastern been covered by the press, so Studies from Harvard and was a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Center let’s begin. Were you one of for international Affairs. those whiz kids who always In 2006 he was appointed Distinguished Professor of International Affairs at the knew that you wanted to be a US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. diplomat when you grew up? He has a long standing love for Iran and Persian culture stemming from his first Not at all! I never planned to be a visit there in 1962 as a student while his parents were on assignment with USAID, diplomat, I wanted to be a teacher. his years there in the Peace Corps, his marriage to an Iranian and his time there in the Foreign Service. He extremely interested in finding peace between our nations. You were born in Washington It has been my great privilege to know John Limbert. DC, did you grow up there and where did you go to 30 No. 67 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E school K-12? Which students did you like nians are like us only more so. the best; the high school I went to all public schools in Wash- pupils, Shiraz University stu- I often say that the price of ington DC. dents or the US Naval cadets? Persian friendship is heavy but worth it. How did you first become Well I have to say that I wasn’t really interested in Iran? cut out for teaching high school students Agreed, that’s another way of saying but I really enjoyed teaching the college it. Marriage also had made me become My parents were there working for students in Shiraz. They were very studi- part of the Iranian culture, you absorb it USAID and I went over in 1962 and vis- ous and sincere. About the midshipmen, and assimilate through family. Our chil- ited with them and fell in love with Iran. they are not necessarily going for PhDs dren are bilingual. but they have made a certain commit- What was USAID doing in ment which includes personal sacrifices Have they ever been to Iran? Iran at that time? Was it and they are very dedicated. They are very related to President Truman’s openminded and eager to learn and I have They were born In Iran. The last time Point Four program? enjoyed teaching them. they were there was when they were 9 and 7 years old and they still remember a lot. That’s exactly what it was…a con- You are married to a wonder- tinuation of that program…there were ful woman Parvaneh; where Have you ever wanted to go vaccination programs and vaccination of did you meet? Where in Iran back? Could you go there for cattle as well. is she from? a visit? You went to Harvard, as did Parvane was teaching at the same Politically it is still difficult for me my late father, Class of’36. high school as I was during my time in and my children but yes we would love Who was your favorite profes- the Peace Corps which was in Sanadaj. to go for a visit. sor there? My wife is from Sanandaj and her father was a medical doctor there. I may be a bit of a dreamer My academic advisor was Richard but I believe the whole Frye. You were in Sanandaj? No impasse and tension between wonder you wrote that study Iran and the USA could be It doesn’t get any better than on: The Origins and Appear- ratcheted way down although that! ance of the Kurds in Pre-Is- many Americans would op- lamic Iran for Iranian Studies pose it if Obama would just I also worked a lot with Richard Bul- in 1968. Did you go to any hop on a plane and go lay liett (at Columbia University now) who Khanegahs while you were in flowers on the graves of some was an Associate professor at Harvard at Sanandaj and see the der- of the young men who died the time working on his thesis on the urban vishes in Sama? What did you in the Iran Iraq War at their history of Nishapour. think about all that? I myself national cemetery, Behesht e tend to lean in that direction. Zahra. Did you learn Arabic and Persian at Harvard? I did see them indeed. That’s not that far fetched a notion. It’s what in diplomacy is called the “Sadat I did a year of Arabic as an undergrad We know that you were one to Jerusalem plan”…one huge gesture to and Persian as grad student. I studied Ara- of the US Embassy hostages try to break the impasse. bic further at the Foreign Service Institute. during the revolution of 1979 and I will address that later. And I guess there is the What did you write your PhD At the moment tell us the story question of western cultural thesis on? that is behind the American influence. Foreign Service Association’s It was on Shiraz in the Age of Hafez. Rivkin Award for Creative Well of course the regime has tried I researched it while I was teaching in Shi- Dissent, which you received? to restrict Western influence and impose raz between 1968 and 1972 and in fact my dress codes and so on to prevent a soft thesis was the basis for my book: Shiraz in Actually there is no particular story revolution but the more they restrict the the Age of Hafez: The Glory of a Medieval on that. I received it along with the Depart- more people resist. Persian City published in 2004. ment of State Award for Valor after being held hostage in 1979-81. That’s human nature isn’t it? Let’s talk about teaching. What Nobody likes being told what did you teach and at what level What is it about Persian cul- to do. while in the Peace Corps? ture that really attracts you: Everyone likes creature comforts and I taught English at high school level. Terence O’ Donnell said it best: Ira- Iranians do too. Fall 2012 31 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E Our readers want to know did not have wide appeal or support until Bakhtiar in Paris, there was the bombing about your hostage experi- he attacked the 1964 immunity law, then of the Jewish Center in Buenos Aeries… ence. Do you have anything he became the darling of the nationalists. so they have engaged in terrorism in the more that you haven’t already past but it waxes and wanes. said in other venues that you I read recently that you were would like to say about it? the first civilian official to But I mean when the IRI enter Iraq after the US inva- helps their Moslem brothers First it taught me the importance of sion. You had a role in trying the Palestinians whom no one my profession, of diplomacy in trying to restore the looted national else seems to help, the Egyp- to resolve or avoid hostility. Secondly it treasures to their national tians built a wall, they call it pointed out to me the dangers of mix- archeological museum.