The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project DR. RICHARD H. SOLOMON Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: September 13, 1996 Copyright 2 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ania Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT$% Yale Uni ersity% Har ard Uni ersity China studies Professor Lucian Pye Author, Chinese affairs Hong Kong 1,-.-1,-- Associates China training 0China 1atching2 China Studies 3ohn R. Fairbank Fairbank Center Lucian Pye Professor Benjamin Sch1art7 Mao McCarthyism 8reat Leap For1ard China recognition issue Tai1an - Ford Foundation Fello1 1,54 Uni ersity of Michigan 1,---1,-, Dissertation Faculty Professor Alexander Eckstein Dr. Alan Whiting Hong Kong - Research 1,-, Cultural Re olution 1 Mao-Khrushche dispute National Security Council - Staff 1,71-1,7- Kissinger President Nixon isit Problems of adjustment Security Ping pong diplomacy National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Tai1an Ping Pong Federation Lin Piao disappearance China isits Alexander Haig Watergate China talks Exchange program China contacts Zhou En-lai 8ang of Four Kissinger NSC and Secretary of State Korea Aietnam China-So iet Union relations NixonBs 0last days2 President Ford 0Hallo1een 1eekend massacre2 Congressional support Brent Sco1croft China 0normali7ation2 of relations Rand Corporation 1,7--1,C- Duties China policy Teams Asian security issues 08ames of 8uanxi2 Chinese negotiating beha ior State Department - Policy Planning Staff 1,C--1,C, Secretary of State Shult7 Functions Political democrati7ation Bureau relations Shult7 1orld ie1 8orbache 2 State-Defense tension Central America Middle East Far East POWDMIAs Predictions Policy statement formation President Reagan Dennis Ross State Department - Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs 1,C,-1,,2 Cambodia China relations Tiananmen SFuare Secretary of State Baker Sco1croft-Eagleburger China mission ASEAN Aietnam-China Khmer Rouge Peter 3enningsB report POWDMIA issue Aietnam Korea Mongolia Ku1ait in asion Philippines bases The Philippines - Ambassador 1,,2-1,,. Base closings Subic Bay Economy Cora7on AFuino Relations Philippine military U.S. military China-Philippine relations ASEAN U.S. economic interests INTERVIEW $: This is an interview with Dr. Richard H. Solomon on September 13, 1996. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and I'm Charles Stuart Kennedy. To start things off, I think it,s important for the researchers to 3 know a little bit about who you are and where you're coming from. Could you tell me when and where you were born, and a bit about your family- SOLOMON: My family background is 8erman and French 3e1ish emigres 1ho came to this country in the late 1,th or early 20th centuries, and settled mostly in the eastern part of the United States. I 1as born in Philadelphia on 3une 1,, 1,I7. My father 1as a furniture salesman% he sold furniture from factories to retail outlets. He died in 1,45, at the age of I7, from a pulmonary embolism resulting from an operation. My mother, 1ho had had only one year of college, picked up his profession and made a career out of the same business, that is as a sales1oman selling from factories to retail outlets. As the result of her 1ork, she tra eled Fuite a bit, going around to arious retail outlets. At the age of 12, I 1as sent to a Juaker boarding school -- Westto1n School in the 1estern suburbs of Philadelphia -- for high school, out of concern that I 1as not getting enough adult super ision. This aspect of my early life is rele ant to my in ol ement in public affairs. Westto1n, and the Juakers generally, ha e a strong interest in public ser ice. There are other distinguished U.S. diplomats 1ho graduated from Westto1n, such as Ambassadors Arthur Hummel, William 8leysteen, and Thomas Niles, although only Niles 1as a contemporary of mine. My family, going back a fe1 generations, had a ariety of professional interests. The original emigres 1ere salesmen of 8erman sil er, and 1ent back and forth bet1een Europe and the United States, finally settling in this country during the late part of the 1,th century. One 1ing of the family had a number of distinguished academics% in fact, one family member 1as a doctor - Milton Rosenau - 1ho established the Har ard-MIT School of Public Health in 1,1I. He also 1rote 0Pre enti e Medicine and Hygiene,2 1hich 1as first published in 1,1I and -- updated o er the years -- is still a medical school textbook. Another branch of the family, from France, included an art dealer 1ho funded Renoir and some of the other notable impressionists at the turn of the century. That same 1ing of my family produced one rabbi, but generally it 1as a family 1ith strong commercial interests. My grandfather on my motherKs side ran a knitting mill during World War II, and did ery 1ell because of large orders, particularly producing parachute cord. When my father died, my maternal grandfather became a major sponsor in some 1ays of my subseFuent professional de elopment. He supported the tuition for my high school training at Westto1n, and later 1hen I 1as accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT$ he made it possible for me to attend for my undergraduate training. $: At .esttown, did you have any attraction towards international affairs- SOLOMON: The family, and hence the formati e en ironment, in 1hich I 1as raised 1as ery insular, in the sense that my family 1as ery business oriented, as I mentioned. They 1ere not ery interested in public affairs generally, or in international affairs in particular, although of course during my early years, just before the onset of World War II and then during the War, e erybody 1as in ol ed in international affairs in one 1ay or another. My father, for example, ser ed for se eral years in the Coast 8uard before his 4 death. E erybody had a sense of international affairs to some degree, and because a number of my family members 1ere recent emigres, political and social de elopments in Europe 1ere a matter of considerable interest. But professionally, there 1asnKt really much direct interest in international affairs. My professional de elopment 1as definitely impacted by boarding school, and exposure to the concerns of the Juakers 1ith broad- ranging public policy issues. When I 1as 15 years old, I spent a summer at a Juaker 1ork camp in California and other parts of the 1est. We 1orked 1ith a group of Russian emigres -- this 1as the summer of 1,5I, at the height of the Cold War, and the setting ser ed to bring policy issues to light. The Juakers, as you kno1, are pacifists, and they 1ere ery concerned 1ith international de elopments and about American policy during the Cold War. They often tended to consider American beha ior as contributing to tensions rather than alle iating them. In any e ent, foreign affairs issues 1ere ery much a matter of public debate in that en ironment. I 1as strongly dra1n, if not to all of their opinions, then at least to their interest in public affairs, as opposed to the business en ironment in 1hich I had gro1n up but frankly didnKt find ery attracti e. I ne er considered, for example, picking up on business or commercial acti ity as a basis for my o1n career. $: .hat pointed you towards MIT- SOLOMON: I 1as interested in science. In high school I had done particularly 1ell in science. I 1as Fuite interested in photography, and my grades 1ere strongest in the science area, 1hich led me to conclude that chemistry 1ould be a good area of focus. I also applied to Har ard and one or t1o other schools. My English grades 1ere not as strong as my scientific grades, so I 1as accepted at MIT and not at Har ard. I 1as also accepted at Lehigh and another scientific school, Union College in Schenectady, Ne1 York. But 1hen I 1as accepted at MIT in Boston, gi en its international reputation and the fact that Boston 1as a major intellectual center, I didnKt ha e much of a problem deciding 1here I 1anted to go to school. $: So you were at MIT from when to when- SOLOMON: I graduated from high school in the spring of 1,55, and began at MIT as a freshman in the fall of 1,55. Half1ay through my junior year, not really finding science to my liking after all, I decided to take a break from school. I 1anted to ha e 1hat the 8ermans 1ould call a 0year of 1andering,2 trying to figure out 1hat I 1anted to do, and so a colleague of mine, a friend from MIT, joined me in hitchhiking around Europe for nine months. Because of that experience I graduated one year later than I had originally planned, in 3une of 1,-0. Of course, also because of that experience, I had had a yearBs break from school in 1,5C to think about personal direction, so unlike many of my peers I 1ent immediately from my undergraduate studies into graduate school, also at MIT. $: 0ou were focusing on science at MIT when you first went there. .hat happened- SOLOMON: I guess I didnKt find science as intriguing as some of the social and political 5 issues to 1hich I 1as also exposed. MIT had a ery good liberal arts component% it 1as not a ery large element of the curriculum, but for example literary criticism 1as one strong area. One of the best courses I e er took 1as a course in art and architecture.