Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR MICHAEL W. COTTER Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: December 12, 1998 Copyri ht 2002 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Wisconsin Georgeto n University; University of Barcelona, Spain Entered Foreign Service - 1968 State Department - FSI - ,ietnamese -anguage Training 1969 ,ietnam - .ORDS - 0ekong Delta 1910-1911 Hamlet Evaluation Survey Ben Tre District Ba Tri District Saigon, ,ietnam - Staff Aide 1911 Ambassador Bunker .ambodia incursion 419105 .orruption ,iet .ong Tet Offensives .IA 6,ietnami7ation8 0edia -a Pa7, Bolivia - Political Officer 1911-1913 .oup d:;tat Environment and narcotics AID .ommunism U.S. military assistance Allende & the Pinochet coup Foreign Religious groups .an Tho, ,ietnam - ,iet .ong 1913 .ease fire 1 International .ommission of .ontrol Fall of South ,ietnam 6,ietnami7ation8 State Department ? Honduras, El Salvador, Bolivia Desk Officer 1913-1915 AID AiBon resignation Stanford University - -atin American Studies 1915-1916 Dependency theory Cuito, Ecuador - Political Officer 1916-1919 U.S. and foreign military sales Government Environment 0ilitary staffing in embassies Peru border tensions Human rights State Department - FSI - Turkish -anguage Training 1919-1980 Ankara, Turkey - PoliticalD0ilitary Officer 1980-1982 0ilitary government Security D terrorism Environment U.S. basesDDE.A agreement AATO .oup d:;tat 0ilitary-to-military relations Greek-Turkish relations; .yprus State Department - Turkish Desk Officer 1982-1984 Armenians 0ilitary assistance Greek lobby Richard Perle 6Stovepipe8; conflicting U.S. military chains of command Intelligence sharing .yprus Ginshasa, Haire - PoliticalD.onsular Officer 1984-1988 Government; corruption and patronage system 0obutu Regional instability Economy AIDS 2 Dissidents Gamina Air Base Shaba region Belgians Shaba region Environment .IA Human rights 0issionaries African-American diplomats U.S. training programs Intern program State Department - Office of 0anagement Policy 1988-1990 State Department - PoliticalD0ilitary Bureau 1990-1992 Foreign Service vs. .ivil Service 0ilitary sales and assistance State-Defense EBchange Program Gold aterDAickles Act IraI-Gu ait Task Force Assistance to Israel 6Earmarking8 Turkey 0ilitary assistance programs Assistance budget preparation Gulf War I0ET Program Dick .larke Santiago, .hile - D.0 1992-1995 AAFTA 6Poisoned grapes8 issue Fruit eBportsDinspection Democratic tradition Pinochet era Society Government EBiles and terrorism Economy and eBports .hile Foundation 0ilitary Argentina relations Ae embassy construction Antarctica Relations ith Pinochet 3 Turkmenistan - Ambassador 1995-1998 AssignmentDconfirmation process Human rights Embassy creation Soviet colonialism Environment Russian minority Economy Gas and oil Aral Sea Agriculture Reforms U.S. Assistance to FSU USIA 0uslims and fundamentalism Embassy staffing AID Aeighbors .aspian Sea Unocal project Aiya7or Pipelines Iran Government .entral Asian 6unity8 INTERVIEW $: Well, can we start with, basically, tellin me when and where you were born, and then somethin about your family' .OTTER: I as born in 0adison, Wisconsin on August 1, 1943. I gre up in 0il aukee. 0y father is a la yer. 0y mother, as as common in her generation, raised us. I have t o brothers, one of hom orks for the American 0edical Association in .hicago, as an economist. The other is an assistant district attorney ith 0il aukee .ounty. $: (es, let)s talk about this, and can you give me a feel for the family' Did you read' What were the interests in the family' .OTTER: Yes, I read a lot. I read a lot more no than my brothers. I don:t kno hether this is a function of being a couple years pre-boomer versus being a boomer, but I as brought up reading ith my grandparents at a very young age. I al ays read a lot, 4 and still read a lot. I ent to parochial schools, .atholic grade school and Lesuit high school in 0il aukee. I played some sports, but my main activity in high school as drama and student government. $: Well, one hears those Catholic schools, fifty or so years before, could be very strict, and the nuns a very difficult group to deal with. How did you find this' .OTTER: It as very strict. Although I ceased being a practicing .atholic many years ago, I still give significant money to the high school, because I think the best education I had, in my entire education, through la school, as at that high school. As is common in Lesuit schools, it had a demerit system. Every five demerits earned you a 6jug8, a jug being 45 minutes in a study hall, after class. No if you ere involved in a sport or anything else that reIuired practice right after class, your alternative to jug as five s ats. Five s ats meant that you got up in front of the jug, emptied your back pockets, put your hands on your knees, and took five hits ith the golf club. Actually, in those days, the parents certainly kne this as part of the rules. I don:t even kno many kids ho objected to it. So, yes it as a strict school. I liked a separate education in high school. While not having girls in school as a frustration, I suppose, it as also less of a distraction. In those days, you had sections in each class. I as in the honors program, and took four years of -atin and t o years of Homeric Greek. Greek as a lot tougher. The first year e didn:t have a really good teacher, and as a result I never learned to read ancient Greek that ell. By the time e took it the second year, e had a much more sensible teacher ho simply had us read ancient Greek plays in English, and then rite papers on them. This as probably as useful as memori7ing ancient Greek. The Lesuits, as is ell kno n by their detractors as ell as their supporters, do a great job of educating. I as in drama for three years. We did T elve Angry 0en one year, and There Were No Angels, or 0y Three Angels, the play has been called different things. In my senior year e did No Time for Sergeants, in hich I had the lead. $: The Andy -riffith role. .OTTER: I played the Andy Griffith role, that:s right. It as a lot of fun. The only problem ith being in drama, I discovered in high school, as that, particularly in that kind of situation, it:s mostly preparation. You do three performances, and the hole thing is over, unlike ith professionals. I read in the paper today here .ats is going into its 11th year. Even ith football or basketball seasons in high school, you have a certain number of games in hich to 6perform.8 But in drama you ork, and ork, and ork, and then have three days of glory, and it:s over. I as also in student government and as president of the student council in my senior year. I participated in hat as called the Badger Boys State. It:s a program run by the American -egion in every state to give student leaders some eBperience in the democratic process. One other thing I guess I ould comment on is, I as a Boy Scout and an Eagle Scout. -ater on, although I don:t have children of my o n, I did serve as Scout 0aster. I discovered hat I think a lot of fathers find, and that is, too many other people tend to see Scouts and other organi7ations as a ay to get rid of their kids for a hile. The greatest 5 frustration as a Scout leader is getting other parents to go along on camp outs and participate in other activities. I finally asked myself hy as I doing this. I didn:t have kids of my o n, but yet I as doing this, and I couldn:t get fathers to come out. The interesting thing about being a Boy Scout in the 1950s as that all of our leaders ere World War II vets. 0y father served in the Pacific in the Eleventh Airborne Division and actually as scheduled to be on the first element of the invasion of Lapan had it taken place, and as on the second plane that landed in Lapan after the armistice as signed. Anyho , he and the other fathers ere all World War II vets. So our scouting eBperience as very focused on the military. We learned to march in step. We learned all of the Army marching songs. We learned signals. We learned about a compass. It as much different from scouting no , I gather, here, of course, it has changed ith the times. The leaders today don:t have the same military background that all of our leaders did. I found scouting to be a lot of fun, and very interesting. We took some fascinating trips. The other day, I as going through an old boB, and came upon a patch, I guess it as from hen I as already an EBplorer. We built hat e called Glondike sleds, hich ere sort of like dog sleds. The eBercise as then to go out and do a simulated airline rescue. A plane had crashed, and then e ere to go out ith the sled, and find survivors, and haul them back. Well, e ent out to camp on this particular eekend. It as one of the coldest eekends ever, about 20 belo . So, e ere camping in various kinds of tents, incidentally this ould have been in 1951 or 1958, probably. We got up the neBt morning. If you hadn:t had your boots in your sleeping bag ith you, your boots ere fro7en. So, the first thing you had to do as tha your boots out.