The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR THEODORE R. BRITTON, JR. Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 29, 1989 Copyright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background War xperience Housing and Urban Development Republican connections Ambassadorial position comes through Barbados and Grenada 1974-1977 US relations ,ith Barbados Caliber of embassy staff Barbados.s attempt to establish national airline Preventing Cuban airlift to Angola via Barbados Political situation in Grenada US relations ,ith Grenada mbassy personnel Conclusion Black ambassadors /ueen li0abeth INTERVIEW Q: Mr. Britton served as ambassador to Barbados and Grenada, and was the (S Special Representative to the Caribbean Associated States from 197,-77. He is presently ssistant to the Secretary of Housing and (rban Development in International Affairs since 1981. Does that still hold/ BR1TTO23 4es. Q: Mr. Britton serves as Chairman of the (S01eople2s Republic of China Agreement on Building and Construction and (rban Planning. Earlier in his career he was President and Chief E4ecutive Officer of the American Baptist Management Corporation and Deputy Assistant Secretary of H(D. He graduated from New 7or8 (niversity in 1952. Mr. Ambassador, before we move into your time as Ambassador to Barbados and Grenada, could you tell me little about your bac8ground before you reached that time/ BR1TTO23 Actually, 17m a banker. 1 ,as mortgage officer and head of the mortgage department at Carver Federal Savings and 8oan Association. From there 1 became president of the American Baptist 9anagement Corporation. We had properties throughout the country. Then the stint in government as Deputy Assistant Secretary, and later as ambassador. 1 returned to become xecutive :ice President of the 8ogical Technical Services Corporation, and later President of United 9utual 8ife 1nsurance Corporation Company. From there, of course, back into government, ,here 17ve been since 1981. Q: :hat developed your interest in foreign affairs/ BR1TTO23 :ery good. :ery good. 1t goes ,ay back, starting ,hen 1 ,as in the High School of Commerce in Ne, 4ork City. A number of us young black students came together to discuss the situation in Africa, and ,e decided ,e ,ould set up a black African empire. But ,e didn7t ask the Africans ,hat they thought about all of this. Q: :e2re tal8ing about . BR1TTO23 1941, like that. Q: :ell that, of course, at the time, was colonial area. BR1TTO23 Of course, yes, except 8iberia. We talked about this, and ,hat have you. 1t kind of ,hetted my interest in foreign matters. By the time 1 reached the service--1 ,as overseas in 1944, in Guadalcanal--1 used to read a good bit about Ralph Bunch, ,ho ,as sort of xecutive Secretary, or something like that, to the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission. 1 began to get interested in ,hat ,as then called the diplomatic and consular service. 1 dearly ,anted to go into the diplomatic and consular service. When 1 ,as near leaving the service, there ,as a push to get in ne, people into the diplomatic and consular service. They ,ould take officers ,ho qualified. Ho,ever, 9arine Corps did not allo, blacks to become officers at all. The highest rank you could get ,as sergeant, ,hich 1 eventually achieved. That thre, me out. So 1 began study at college later on, majoring in international finance to some extent, and all the subjects 1 could find related to international studies. But it continued to elude me and ,ith the 9cCarthy years, 1 said, "Forget it." Q: Could you e4plain why the McCarthy years turned you off about this, and e4plain what the McCarthy years were/ BR1TTO23 At about 1950--1 think it ,as there about--Senator 9cCarthy and the House of Representatives side began their great push. Sort of anti-communist. Q: This is the Senator McCarthy on the Senate side and the House (n- merican ctivities Committee. BR1TTO23 4es. Began to do their systematic investigations--some ,ould call it harassment, ,hatever you ,ant to call it. 1t ,as such a harsh thing against the governmental employees especially. Other people suffered, but it ,as such a harsh thing against government employees. So many people that 1 had read about in my early years-- and that 1 hadn7t read about--,ere hounded out of government, that 1 decided then that 1 never ,anted to be a part of that kind of thing. 1 never ,anted to go into government and have that happen to me. So 1 just kept a big interest in foreign affairs, but 1 never ,ent out of my ,ay to seek any particular part in government. 1 had done a brief stint in government ,ith the :A after coming out of the service. Q: Veterans2 Administration. BR1TTO23 :eterans7 Administration, yes. As 1 say, from that point on, 1 said, "Forget about it." But 1 kept an interest. As 1 got more into national housing in 1964 ,ith the American Baptist, it brought me more and more into contact ,ith government through the Department of Housing. Q: :hat sort of things were you doing with Housing/ BR1TTO23 The government ,as having a problem. 1t had begun to push the so-called non-profit housing corporations to promote them. But one organi0ation that began to be quite a participant ,as a union out of 9il,aukee ,hich had internal problems. As a result they found themselves having to give up all of their housing interests. The government ,as then stuck ,ith ,hat to do ,ith these corporations. They didn7t ,ant to take them back. They called upon us, the American Baptist Group, to come for,ard and become the sponsor. We set up a housing corporation to take over the sponsorship and to manage them. There ,ere nine of them nation-,ide--9assachusetts, Ne, 4ork, Wisconsin, California, nine all told. We took them over. But it meant ,orking ,ith individual offices nation-,ide. Aeep in mind that the Department of Housing and Urban Development had just become a cabinet department. There ,as no regional setup as such, so it ,as necessary to go from one office to the other. Sometimes 1 ,as educating a given office as to ,hat the other ,as doing or ,hat the national office ,as doing. Q: This was also the beginning of President Johnson2s war on poverty. BR1TTO23 4es. The housing la, ,as passed about 1961 under President Aennedy. This ,as called the 221-DC program. We began to take them over, and by the time 1 left the American Baptist, ,hich ,as 1971, ,e had about 2C housing developments. We ,ere the largest in the country. 1 probably kne, as much about this kind of socially-oriented housing management as anybody. As a matter of fact, 1 ,ent to ngland to meet ,ith the 1nstitute of Housing 9anagers and learn ,hat they ,ere doing. Their history ,ent back to 1850 or 1840, or thereabouts. 1 also met ,ith the 1nternational Federation for Housing and Planning to meet other housing experts. 9y relations ,ith government ,as changed by this ne, relationship. Because of my interest and sort of expertise, 1 ,as invited to join the government by the person heading research and technology at the time at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Q: :ho was that/ BR1TTO23 His name ,as Harry Finger. A very fine person. But 1 still had reservations. 1 ,asn7t interested in government as such. As time progressed, 1 mello,ed a little bit, and at one point there ,as a thought of closing my office in Ne, 4ork, the headquarters of American Baptist, and moving it do,n to :alley Forge, Pennsylvania. 1 ,asn7t exactly in favor of that--17m sort of an urban person. The pastoral confines did not attract me at all. Q: [Laughter? Good for vacations. BR1TTO23 Dust at that point, Harry Finger called me again. He had offered me all kinds of things. 1 ,as so naive that 1 ,ouldn7t ask him ,hat ,as the grade, ,hat ,as the title, ,hat ,as the pay. Suddenly, 1 said at that moment, "4es. Go ahead and process it. 17ll look at it, and 1 think 17ll be interested." And be proceeded to process it. 1 had to make out several forms and, in due course, 1 found myself coming do,n to join him. Q: Moving to what is really the focus of this interview . BR1TTO23 No,, ho, did 1 get into foreignE Q: 7es. BR1TTO23 Research in Housing and Urban Development and demonstration programs involved doing a lot of things in the country here. We ,ere doing ,hat at that time ,as called "Operation Breakthrough"--ne, technology, ne, techniques in planning, ne, materials, ne, la,s, ne, concepts, and so forth. Harry Finger ,as a ,orkhorse, and ,as doing quite a bit of the ,ork domestically. There ,as still a good bit to be learned overseas from other countries. They ,ere much older, of course, obviously, than the US. The cities ,ere older, their research ,as older, and so forth. 1 became interested in that. 1 started meeting ,ith U.N. groups, the Organi0ation for conomic Cooperation and Development, the urban side, as ,ell as other countries such as ngland, France, and Germany. 1n the course of my going to those meetings, suddenly, 1 ,as invited by the US 1nformation Agency to lecture on housing and urban development in other countries. 1t gave me an opportunity to see ,hat they ,ere doing. 1 began to visit embassies to meet ,ith housing officials, and this al,ays has the benefit of broadening the outreach of a given embassy. Subjects in ,hich they might normally not have a big interest .