Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project THOMAS R. HUTSON Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 10, 1999 Copyright 2005 A ST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Nebraska University of Nebraska Marriage U.S. Army Entered the Foreign Service in 1967 Teheran, Iran; Rotation Officer 1968-1971 The Shah Environment 0isa and citi1enship case studies Am assador Macarthur Political situation State Department, FSI 2 Ser o-Croation language studies 1971 Belgrade, 4ugoslavia, 1972-1975 Consular Officer Environment Security P7O Croatia tensions Banja 7uka branch office 8osovo Al anians Tito Soviet Union Am assador Toom State Department, Special Assistant to Undersecretary Sisco 1975-1976 State Department, CA Bureau. Program Officer, E. Europe 1976 Bulgaria, 4ugoslavia and Romania 1 Cultural e9change programs :innipeg, Canada, Principal Officer 1976-197. Consular district U.S. interests Relations Economic issues 7i erals Environment issues Moscow, Soviet Union, Consul General 197.-19.0 Jewish emigrants American ?refugees” Pentecostals Senator Javits ?DAtente” Security Dutch em assy help Jews Unusual visa cases Am assador :atson Jailed Americans Afghanistan invasion O jections to U.S. policy Resignation in protest to U.S policy 19.0 Post-Resignation Activity 19.0-19.3 Independent contractor Houston oil services firm Interest in reentering the U.S. government American Council of 4oung Political 7eaders Re-entered the Foreign Service, 19.3 7agos, Nigeria, Regional Consular Officer 19.3-19.5 Oil Education 0isa management program Regional offices Duties and operation State Department, FSI, Mandarin language studies 19.5-19.6 Taipei, TaiwanC FSI, Mandarin language studies 19.6-19.7 2 Taipei, Taiwan, American Institute, Chief Consular Officer 19.7-1990 Management Corruption 0isa cases 0isa fraud Belgrade, 4ugoslavia, Science Counselor 1990-1992 Economy Bosnia referendum Am assador Dimmermann Riots Industry U.S. Institute for Science and Technology 4ugoslavia disintegration Slovenia independence 8osovo Croatia-Ser ia split The Ser s State Department, e9-4ugoslavia Task Force 1992 Bishkek, 8yrgy1stan, Deputy Principal Officer 1992- Environment Non-Government Organi1ations ENGOsF Feliks 8ulov President Akayev Trou les with am assador AID Death of daughter Bar ados, Economic-Political Counselor State Department career ended Charges 7awsuit State Department short term assignments ETD4GsF 1995-2003 International Commission on Former 4ugoslavia Ser s receiving war material Em argo Meeting with Madeleine Al right Crown Prince Ale9ander Ser o-Montenegro issue OSCE Monitoring 3 Ma1ar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, U8 Provincial Reconstruction Tm. 2003-2004 State Dept. Rep Afghanistan Reconstruction Group EARGF Personnel pro lems Am assador Dalmay 8halil1ad Environment Rumsfeld visit Group mission ?Hearts and Minds” issue USAID Mullahs Meetings reports Press reporting Dostum and Atta U1 ekistan 8ar1ai The British Non-Government Agencies ENGOGsF UN presence Tali an INTERVIEW ": To start with, please tell us where you were born and something about your family. HUTSONC I was born in Omaha, Ne raska on Septem er 14, 1939. My father was a fireman - captain of the Fonteneille fire station in Omaha. My mother was a former vaudeville dancer. She had danced with Fred Astaire when he performed in Omaha. She was part of the chorus line. ": Fred Astaire was born in Omaha as was Marlon Brando. HUTSONC Right. My mother dated Jack Teagarden, the great trom onist. Both of my motherGs parents came from Denmark. Her father, Niels Peter Neilsen, worked on the Union Pacific railroad as a conductor. He was also the editor of a Danish language newspaper pu lished in Omaha. My grandmother, who was PeterGs second wife, immigrated from Denmark just to marry him. My fatherGs family lived in southwest Iowa. They had lived there for several generations. I am going to retire in Thurman, Iowa - a small town close to where the Hutsons came from. My father died in 1943 after retiring from the Omaha fire department. My mother was his second wife who married him after his first wife and daughter died from scarlet 4 fever. After my father retired, we moved to Ne raska where I grew up. :e lived in the south- central part of the state - in the town of Red Cloud - close to the 8ansas border. ERed Cloud had been the home of :illa Cather, who moved there having been born in 0irginia. She figured later in my lifeF. Although she was well known, we never read one word of what she had written throughout my twelve years of education in Red Cloud. Everyone knew ?:illy”, but there is a penalty for being famous in a small town. 7ater, after I had left Red Cloud, it came to light that she was a les ian which made her even more controversial. In those days, 8ansas was ?dry.” My father took over the management of a hotel and a liIuor store. I suspect that he had a lot of customers from 8ansas. He died in 1947 at the early age of 55, leaving my mother to tend to my older brother and myself. Both my rother and I graduated from Red Cloud high school. ": Did either of your parents attend a university or college? HUTSONC No. I think my father got as far as eighth grade. My mother went all the way through high school - Omaha commercial high school. She learned book keeping and was a champion hand writer. One of her classmates was Roman Hruska, later to become a U.S. senator. I met him later when he visited Belgrade, he told me that he remem ered my mother - she had ?good legs.” - what a politicianJ. She worked for the Harding Cream company as a book-keeper before she married. ": Tell us a little about life in Red Cloud. HUTSONC The Hutsons were somewhat different from other inha itants of Red Cloud ecause we had come from Omaha and had moved to a small town. Usually, the migration goes the other way. :e also traveled freIuently. :e used to go to Omaha regularly which provided us fodder for briefing our school mates a out life outside Red Cloud. :e also went to Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver - where we stayed at the Brown Palace hotel. :e were there, as a matter of fact, on 0J Day. According to the 1940 census, Red Cloud had 2,010 inha itants. At one time, it had been the temporary capital of Ne raska. It was a railroad town which declined rapidly in population once the railroads did not run there any longer. But for us, it was an idyllic place to grow up in. :e played base all, foot all or basket all. :e had a church choir. It was a small town where all the neigh ors looked after each other. :e chased after the young ladies. My brother got one of them pregnant which taught me a lesson and I was very careful in my se9ual endeavors. :hen this occurred, he was a freshman in college and the girl was a junior in high school. He married the girl which was the first of his four marriages. He became a doctor - he was the townGs doctor until my mother suggested he leave after the break-up of his third marriage. My mother died in a car accident and then my brother married for the fourth time. ThatGs what comes from having a good ? ed-side” 5 manner which seemed to have served him well. Red Cloud is on the Repu lican River which was dammed later by the Corps of Engineers. That stopped the flooding. It was also on ?tornado alley.” In the summers, I would move to one of the farms and work there. It was something like ?My Kntonia” - :illa CatherGs best book. I had a pony which I rode, we used to swim - naked - and fish in the creek. I also joined a boy scout troop. At one time, I thought of becoming a preacher. I think it was an idyllic childhood, I canG think of a better one for me. The only ?downer” was the death of my father when I was seven. That was hurtful. :ithout a father, I couldnGt have a gun and therefore couldnGt go hunting which was important in my part of the world. It also meant that I had to depend on other people to take me fishing - until I became a little older. I missed doing all of those things with my father. ": -hat about school? -hat interested you? HUTSONC Both my brother and I were valedictorians. :e were good students. I was most interested in math, science, English, history and social studies. I won an award for journalism, even though that was not a study su ject. But I entered a state wide contest and won, primarily because I read newspapers. I really started that when the 8orean war roke out. The winters of 1949 and 1950 were terri le in Ne raska. That gave me a lot of time for reading. I remem er those days because I had a jo delivering the ?Omaha :orld-Herald”. I used to sit on a hotel radiator, carefully monitoring the movement of the front lines in 8orea. That line moved north until the Chinese entered the fray crossing the 4alu River. I would buy GI Joe comic books which referred to enemy as the ?gooks” and the ?chinks.” That started my interest in military matters. I read every book that was in the Auld pu lic li rary which dealt with American Indians. Both my brother and I were avid readers. T0 had not become generally availa le. I am glad to say that my children inherited my great love of books. ": .ou graduated from high school in May, 1957.