The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR CARL EDWARD DILLERY Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 2, 1994 Copyright 199 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Raised and educated in Seattle 19 0-1955 Assigned to Department as Foreign Service Officer 1955-1957 Complied FE wee)ly briefing boo) for the Secretary View of FE Assistant Secretary Robertson ,mpression of Department Press Corps -apan- To)yo 1957-195. Arranging for -apanese-American marriages Americans in -apanese jails Entertainment at the Ambassador/s residence -apan- 0obe1Osa)a 195.-1921 Passing the e3terior of the Security Treaty Encouraging -apanese e3ports Voluntary agreement to limit te3tile e3ports Teaching English to -apanese e3ecutives Office of the Assistant for Atomic Energy and Outer Space 1921-1925 4abeling Soviet objects in outer space Sitting trac)ing stations abroad Functional bureau vs. regional bureau Science attaches Herman Pollac) as a manager Atlantic Affairs speciali6ations 1925-1922 Training at 7er)eley 7elgium- 7russels 1922-1927 7elgium, 9aire and copper ,mpressions of Ridgway 0night 1 Vietnam 192.-1929 CORDS training ;uang Ngai Province Province senior advisor Enemy military pressure Attitude of Vietnamese peasants Support from the US military Young FSOs My 4ai investigation Defense Department 1970-1971 Office of Chief of Naval Operations Establishing naval facility on Diego Garcia ANeither confirm nor denyA US Navy and Vietnam Value of out-of-Department assignments 7ureau of Political1Military Affairs 1971-1972 US military rights abroad ,ndustrial College of the Armed Forces 1972-197 4ondon 197 -1972) 7 Political1military officer M7FR Deputy chief of Political Section Getting to )now political leaders Ambassador Annenberg Ambassador Richardson 7ritish class system Cyprus, DCM 1972-197. Gree) Cypriot frustration Tur)ish Cypriot attitude Gree)-Tur)ish animosity US policy toward Cyprus Crawford as Ambassador EUR, Deputy and Director of Southeastern Affairs 197.-19.2 The Nimet6 Plan for Cyprus 7ilateral problems with Tur)ey and Greece Papandreou 7ases in Greece ,O, Director of United Nations Political Affairs 19.2-19.C 2 -eane 0ir)patric)/s attitude toward UN Fiji, Ambassador 19.C-19.7 Tuvalu DEllice ,slands) 0iribati DGilbert ,slands) Tonga Fiji Fishing problems South Pacific nuclear free 6one Fijian Army corps Peace Corps activities Office of Management Operations 19.7-19.9 Function of the office Problems with other agencies 7ureau of Finance and Management Policy 19.9-1992 -ill 0ent Program planning Prioriti6ing resources ,nternational 7roadcasting 1992-199 Should it be continuedE Committee on Foreign Service Personnel 1992-199 Office of Management Planning 199 -199C INTERVIEW $: Today is March 2, 1994 and this is an interview with Carl Edward Dillery, who goes by Ed, on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies, and I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. Ed, could you tell me about your bac)ground--you were born in 1930, where you grew up, a little about your family and your education. D,44ERY: , was born and raised and totally educated in Seattle, Gashington. , came from a family that was half Norwegian. The other half was sort of a motley crew but the name ADilleryA was actually Alsatian. ,t was ADelarouA when the family immigrated. , thin) they came basically to escape the troubles in Alsace around the time of the Gar of 1.70. The family were glass blowers. My education was in a Scandinavian part of the city of Seattle, and my mother still lives in the same house , grew up in. , ended up going to a small church-related school, Seattle Pacific University, where , majored in history and got my bachelor/s degree. , ended up in the Foreign Service by accident. The Department of State was recruiting but they didn/t bother to have a meeting with any possible candidates at SPU -- the recruiter dropped off literature in the history department, which consisted of two teachers. , was very close to one of them. He said, AYou might be interested in this,A and gave me the recruiting pamphlet. And here , am. $: -ad you ever thought about the Foreign Service before that/ D,44ERY: , had not. The two things , concentrated on were European and American history so , had some feeling for international affairs. , intended to go into academia and wanted to be a historian. 7y the time , too) the Foreign Service E3amination in 195 , Eisenhower had put a hold on bringing people in or even having the orals. So , didn/t ta)e the oral until 1955. 7etween 195 -55, thin)ing this probably would not wor) out, , started graduate school in history at the University of Gashington. , was wor)ing part time and married, so , didn/t get too far. $: I too) the written e0am in 1913 also. I too) it in 2ermany where I was in the Air .orce. As I recall it was the last long e0am, 3 and a half days. D,44ERY: Yes. Ge li)e to thin) we are the remnants of the old Foreign Service. $: 3here did you go to graduate school/ D,44ERY: Actually, , went to the University of Gashington but only for about one Huarter on a part-time basis. , did not do any other graduate school wor) until , was at the ,ndustrial College of the Armed Forces in 1972-7 , and then , got a Masters of Science in the Administration of National Security from George Gashington. , also had a year of graduate studies at the University of California at 7er)eley, but no degree. $: 4ou came into the State Department when/ D,44ERY: , came into the State Department in May, 1955. $: I am pretty sure you didn5t end up in an FSO A-100 class because I was in the first .SO class and we started on July 1. D,44ERY: That is correct. There was no A-100 when , came. They had actually been bringing junior FSO/s in from the fall of 195C, but everybody was assigned to Gashington so all we got was a three-day orientation about security and things li)e that. , was assigned to the 7ureau of Far Eastern Affairs, as it was called in those days, in the Office of Public Affairs. , did finally ta)e the A-100 in -anuary, 1957. C $: 3hat were you doing/ D,44ERY: At that time we had about si3 people doing public affairs for Far Eastern Affairs. There were two China e3perts, a -apan e3pert, a Director and the rest miscellaneous. , was the most junior of those. My specific responsibility was the Philippines and Southeast Asia, but , really was a )ind of a gofer. -ohn Foster Dulles was Secretary of State and had a press conference every Tuesday in Gashington. That meant that on Monday we had to do a briefing boo) for him which he too) home that night to get ready for the ne3t day. , was the compiler of that boo) for the 7ureau of Far Eastern Affairs. , received the material from other people in the 7ureau, but occasionally wrote some things. One of the great privileges was that , got to go to the press conferences. So , was there at the famous Abrin) of warA session. $: This was what he called brin)manship where he declared you have to be prepared to go to the brin) in order to accomplish anything. D,44ERY: Precisely. , was also there during another very interesting moment. The transcripts of his press conferences were published verbatim, he was a beautiful spea)er, and there was one time when the Department revised his transcript after all the press had reported his actual words. The press all complained about that saying, APresident Eisenhower doesn/t do edit his press conference transcripts and he is well )nown for his lac) of grammatical accuracy or meaning, even, in his sentences....A $: Meandering sentences. Eisenhower was often accused of doing this on purpose. D,44ERY: That/s right. So Dulles said something li)e, AThis is the foreign affairs of the United States and it is too important to have it depend on the mental acuity of one person, even if it is me. So, if you are really going to insist on my not changing what , said when , say something wrong, , am going to stop having press conferences.A And they said, AOh, no, that is all right.A 7ut, ever after that the record of Dulles/ press conferences came out as the State Department/s AreportA of the Secretary/s press conference rather than as a AtranscriptA. $: 3ere you involved in editing what he said/ D,44ERY: No we weren/t. That would have been done probably in the Press Office. -ust to clarify our role in the press conference preparation, on Monday morning the heads of our offices all got together with the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. They guessed what Huestions would be as)ed the ne3t day and assigned responsibility for suggested answers to the appropriate office. , would sort of carry those assigned to FE around and receive the drafts, get them all cleared, write whatever , had to and then turn the product over to Public Affairs that night. And that would be our part of the boo) for the ne3t day. As far as the transcripts were concerned, , am sure that was done by PA. 5 $: Can you give us a feel for Assistant Secretary 3alter Robertson who ran the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs/ I sort of have the feeling that he was the right wing representative of the Republican Senate and was put there so that they could pursue a more open course towards European Affairs and NATO. D,44ERY: , thin) that might be right. Assistant Secretary Robertson was a very imposing figure, a Virginia gentleman.