The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR WELLS STABLER Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: February 28, 1991 Copyright 1998 A ST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Boston Massachusetts" Raised in the U.S. and abroad Harvard University Entered Foreign Service State Department - Inter American Affairs 19,1-19,3 Ecuadoran desk officer .elson Rockefeller involvement A/is South American strongholds Sumner 0ells 1ordell Hull 0artime 2black lists2 Post-0ar Programs 1ommittee - Assistant Secretary 19,, Political vs. economic discussions Secretary of State Stettinius Policy for post-3ar Europe and Asia 4erusalem - 5ice 1onsul 19,,-19,8 7etting there 0artime 4erusalem Environment 4e3s and Arabs 2truce2 8ing David Hotel e/plosion and aftermath 1onsulate jurisdiction 5isit to Emir Abdullah 1onsul 7eneral Pinkerton Anglo-American 1ommittee of In9uiry Operations and duties Terrorism British Arab sympathies OSS advisor 1 U.7A Partition Resolution British 3ithdra3al - 19,8 1onsulate guard detachment State unresponsive to needs 1onsul 7eneral Tom 0asson killed Political reporting ;ionists U.S. recognition of Israel Partition Plan - 19,7 Arab-Israel 3ar in 4erusalem 1onsular casualties 1ount Bernadotte - U. Mediator Amman 4ordan - American Representative - 1hargé d'Affaires 19,8-19,9 8ing Abdullah Sir Alec 8irkbride U.S. recognition of 4ordan 2Hashemite 8ingdom of 4ordan2 4ordan-British relations U. Trustee 1ouncil - U.S. Representative 1950 InternationaliAation of 4erusalem issue State Department - Bureau of Near East Affairs 1950-1953 Middle East Defense OrganiAation (MEDOC Egypt-British relations (basesC Secretary of State Dean Acheson 4ordan visit 8ing Farouk's departure 4oint (U.S.-U.8.C assessment of Egypt The 1olonels (EgyptianC .asser Rome Italy - Political Officer 1953-1957 1ontact development Political parties Offshore procurement 1ommunists and Soviet Union President 7ronchi meeting Ambassador 1lare Boothe Duce .i/on visit U.S.-Italy military cooperation Dead poison affair State Department - Egyptian Affairs 1957-1958 2 State Department - S3issEBenelu/ Affairs 1958 State Department - ItalianEAustrian Affairs 1959-1960 South Tirol San Marino Paris France - Political Officer 1960-1965 De 7aulle and 7aullists Ambassador 7eneral 7avin Ambassador 1hip Bohlen 1ontacts 3ith officials 1IA presence Ambassador Amory Houghton 8ennedy assassination - French response U.S.-French relations 2Algerie francaise2 7eneralsG Revolt 1uban Missile 1risis French politicians Divisions in embassy Meeting De 7aulle 1ommunist Party Deader 7rant Program State Department - Senior Seminar 1965-1966 State Department - Italy Austria S3itAerland Director 1966-1969 Italian 1ommunist Party U.S. bases (ItalyC S3iss relations Rome Italy - Deputy 1hief of Mission 1969-1973 President 4ohnson visit Ambassador 7ardner Ackley Ambassador 7raham Martin Political parties 1IA program Prime Minister Andreotti U.S. policy 0orking 3ith Ambassador Martin Embassy staff Martin and 8issinger 1ommunist 1hina issue U.S. consulates 3 State Department - Deputy Assistant Secretary - European Affairs 1973-1975 Portuguese Revolution 8issinger's policies Ambassador Frank 1arlucci 7TI moves to Bureau of European Affairs 1yprus issue 7reek generalsG coup Turkey arms embargo Ambassador to 7reece Tasca Ambassador Rodger Davies killed Turks occupy North 1yprus 8issinger involvement 1ommon Market Ambassador to Spain 1975-1978 .omination problems Military 2facilities2 agreement negotiations President Ford visit Mondale visit 8ing 4uan 1arlos U.S.-Spanish Treaty .ATO Franco regime Robert Mc1loskey 7reen March in Morocco Franco death 21ritic2 message 28ing's Day2 Spanish politics Arias Navarro Adolfo SuareA 1ommunist Party 1IA role Embassy personnel Bas9ue separatists Senator Frank 1hurch visit Social structure Aileen Romanones Socialist government Retirement October 15 1978 INTERVIEW , ": Today is February 28, 1991. This is an interview with Ambassador Wells Stabler on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies. Mr. Ambassador, I wonder if you would give me something about your bac)ground--where you came from, your education, etc. STABDER: 0ell I 3as born in Boston. My father at that time 3as in the State Department the Foreign Service although he 3ent back and forth a bit from Foreign Service to business. ": Strictly spea)ing there wasn't a Foreign Service in 1919. ,ou were born in 1919. STABDER: Ies October 31 1919. There 3as not. strictly speaking a Foreign Service although there 3as at that time a Diplomatic Service. He 3as a member of the Diplomatic Service. 4ust before I 3as born he 3as a member of the US Delegation to the Paris Peace 1onference advising on Datin American affairs. At the time of my birth he had shifted over briefly to private business and 3as a 5ice President of All American 1ables in Buenos Aires. In early 1920 he came back to the State Department but only for a fe3 years. In about 192, he again returned to private business and 3as in Ecuador representing a consortium of American banks in their effort to collect a loan that the Ecuadoran 7overnment o3ed to those banks. I 3as about five years old then and my brother 3ho 3as t3o years older and I appropriately accompanied 3ent by boat to join my parents in Juito. In about a yearGs time after the successful completion of his 3ork in Ecuador my father 3as named as Secretary 7eneral of the Tacna-Arica Plebiscite 3hich involved a long-standing dispute bet3een 1hile and Peru over the sovereignty of those t3o provinces. In 1925 President 1oolidge appointed 7eneral 4ohn 4. Pershing 3ho had led the American E/peditionary Force in 0orld 0ar I to supervise the Plebiscite. PershingGs head9uarters 3ere in I9ui9ue 1hile. As I9ui9ue 3as not considered a fit place for 3omen and children my mother my brother and I lived further south in 5iKa del Mar near 5alparaiso. 0e 3ere there for nine months and for a part of that time I attended an English school St. PaulGs. In 1926 3hen the Plebiscite 3as called off because of rioting in the t3o provinces 3e returned to 0ashington. My father became the 1hief of the Datin American Division of the State Department. ": ,ou were how old at that time- STABDER: Oh I 3as about si/ or seven. In 1927 he finally retired from the Diplomatic Service and took a job 3ith 7ulf Oil 1ompany. 0e all moved do3n to 1aracas 5eneAuela 3here he became head of governmental relations for 7ulf Oil in 5eneAuela. 0e lived there for almost nine years. Ho3ever during those years my brother and I came up to boarding school in the US - Fay School in Southborough Mass. follo3ed by Brooks School in North Andover Mass. and then graduation cum laude from Harvard in 19,1. 5 ": Am I correct in assuming that you learned Spanish during this time- STABDER: Ies 3e spoke Spanish As 3e 3ere living in a Spanish-speaking country. But my last summer in 5eneAuela 3as in 1936 because in 1937 after I graduated from school I 3ent over to Europe and spent the summer in Belgium 3ith a Belgian family learning to speak French. So I really did not speak Spanish again e/cept in Paris 3hen 3e 3ere there later on - 3e had Spanish household help. But I did not really have to speak Spanish until I 3as appointed as Ambassador to Madrid in 1975. To go back in September or October 19,1 several months after graduating from Harvard I came do3n to 0ashington to see if I could get a job in the State Department. I had al3ays 3anted to go into the State Department. ": .bviously you had had tremendous e/posure to this. STABDER: 0e had had a lot of e/posure to diplomatic life and to living abroad. Of course 3hen my father 3as in 5eneAuela he 3as no longer 3ith the 7overnment but he 3as involved at that time 3ith the 5eneAuelan 7overnment. So there 3as a background of political science if you 3ill. As I said I came do3n to 0ashington to look for a job in the State department. At that time because of the 3ar in Europe they had stopped giving the regular Foreign Service e/ams and I 3as not at that point entirely sure ho3 I 3as going to deal 3ith this. But through my father's friendship of long standing 3ith the then Under Secretary of State Sumner 0elles I 3ent to see Mr. 0elles and he very kindly put me in touch 3ith the Personnel people in the State Department. I 3ent to see 4ack Earhardt 3ho 3as at that point 1hief of Foreign Service Personnel. He referred me to Robert Macatee 3ho 3as an Assistant 1hief of Foreign Service Personnel. LIt is amusing that that 3as 19,1 and seven years later in 19,8 Mr. Macatee 3as my 1onsul 7eneral in 4erusalemM. I 3as offered an appointment in the Foreign Service Au/iliary in the fall of 19,1 3ith assignment as 5ice 1onsul in BogotN. I started 3ork in the Department in the first days of .ovember of 19,1 in the office in the Division of American Republic Affairs 3hich acted as the liaison 3ith the Office of the 1oordinator of Inter-American Affairs headed by Nelson Rockefeller. 4ohn Dreier 3as the head of the office I 3orked in and 3e coordinated for the State Department the activities of the 1oordinator of Inter-American Affairs in its contacts 3ith the coordinating committees in the various countries of Datin America. After a short 3hile I decided that I really 3ould like to stay on in 0ashington in the 3ork I 3as doing. So my assignment to BogotN 3as cancelled. I remained in the Department in this position from 19,1 until 19,3 at 3hich point I 3as appointed as Desk Officer for Ecuadoran Affairs. 6 ": Let's tal) about this time you were wor)ing under Nelson Roc)efeller- STABDER: No 3e 3orked in the Division of the then ARA (American Republic AffairsC.