Association for Diplomatic Newsletter Studies and Training Winter 2007–2008 Dear ADST members and friends, Hamilton, Hills, and ADST made major advances in 2007—creating an instructional Billington to be Honored website at www.usdiplomacy.org, posting the Frontline Diplomacy oral history collection on the website of the Urquhart To Present Bunche Award Library of Congress (search Google for “frontline diplomacy”), and launching five new books in the “Diplomats and Diplomacy” and “Memoirs and Occasional Papers” series, with five more slated for publication in 2008. In addition, we completed two special oral history projects—on Sudan and the evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon—and are about to begin another—on Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq. Our assistance to the Foreign Service Institute featured the annual Lee Hamilton Carla Hills language teaching awards and support for celebrations of FSI’s 60th DST’s biennial awards dinner The gala awards dinner will take anniversary and the 30th anniversary on February 28, 2008, will place at Washington’s historic Willard of the Overseas Briefing Center, Ahonor the stellar achievements Hotel. ADST members may attend policy and language seminars, a and years of dedicated public service at a special discount rate and have the distance learning showcase, academic of former House Foreign Affairs option of prearranging group tables accreditation of FSI courses, language Chairman and Wilson Center at which to share the meal and the training for media encounters, briefing President Lee Hamilton, Librarian merriment. Detailed information will new FSI staff members, and debriefing of Congress James Billington, and be distributed by post and e-mail and returnees from high-stress posts. former U.S. Trade Representative may also be obtained by calling (703) With your support through dues, Carla Hills. Congressman Hamilton 302-6990. contributions, and volunteer activities, will receive the Ralph J. Bunche ADST is on the move. As you will see Award for Diplomatic Excellence for on page 5, many members responded a career spanning some 34 years, as generously to the special appeal for funds well as capstone contributions as vice to support the oral history program, as chairman of the 9/11 Commission did many nonmembers whose interviews and cochairman of the Iraq Study are included in the collection. Let’s keep Group. The Cyrus Vance Award will the momentum going. go to Dr. Billington for his exemplary Our next major event is the biennial leadership on the Library’s “American Tribute to Excellence dinner on Memory” National Digital Library February 28, 2008. The article on this Program, which provides a prestigious page features the impressive group site for ADST’s oral histories and of award recipients. We count on other collections. The International James Billington you to join in rendering these three Business Leadership Award will be Previous recipients of the Bunche distinguished public servants their presented to Carla Hills for her signal Award were Donald McHenry, well-deserved honors and, in so doing, accomplishments as HUD Secretary, Sam Nunn, George P. Shultz, to strengthen further the resource base U.S. Trade Representative, principal John Whitehead, and Colin from which the association carries out negotiator for NAFTA, and business Powell. Past business leadership its important work. consultant. Former Under-Secretary- awardees were James V. Kimsey, We thank you for that support and General of the United Nations Sir J. Bruce Llewellyn, and Frank wish you a happy and prosperous new Brian Urquhart, author of a highly Carlucci; previous Vance honorees year. acclaimed biography of Ralph were Charles Stuart Kennedy and Bunche, will serve as a presenter. Margery Boichel Thompson. — Ken Brown The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Winter 2007–2008 2 ADST Loses Two Valued The embassy reports constantly, From the Oral vociferously, but it doesn’t mean very Former Board Members History Collection: much, because these guys are all in the loop, particularly when the language ong-term Board member Philip At the Court of Saint James’s is the same. Transportation Secretary M. Kaiser, who served as Peña would call up the DTI on our air ambassador to four countries L WILLIAM CROWE was ambassador to problems and later say to me, maybe and was also a high-ranking Labor the United Kingdom, 1994–97. Stu we could use your help. I asked what Department official, died on May 24th Kennedy interviewed him in 1998. The in the Washington area at the age of he meant, and he said we’re talking to 93. While serving as assistant secretary full text of the interview is available in the British on this air control problem. of labor, Mr. Kaiser promoted the trade the Frontline Diplomacy Collection on I’d ask how long he’d been talking to union movement internationally and the website of the Library of Congress. them and he’d say several months. was considered influential in creating This tendency was widespread, not the new post of labor attaché at U.S. Q: How about some of the other things confined to Secretary Peña. Someone embassies around the world. that were going on, such as Yugoslavia? would say we didn’t need you before The ninth of 10 children of CROWE: In essence what happened because we didn’t have any problems, Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Mr. was the United States got fed up with but now we need you. I said we could Kaiser was an Oxford-educated Rhodes what was going on in Europe and have helped you much more if you had scholar and U.S. ambassador to Hungary, pushed hard for the British to enter come to us two months ago. It never Austria, Senegal and Mauritania. Yugoslavia. Finally, the British said occurred to them to go to the Embassy “We’ll go,” and then we started telling until trouble brewed. them what to do. That was a very Q: How about dealing with NATO? divisive issue. Here you had been the Southern I came back to Washington and got Commander of NATO, CINCPAC to see the president, and I said this [Commander in Chief, Pacific telling the British what to do when Command]. Military was your bag. You we’re sitting 3500 miles away is hard to had been Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. defend. If you want to tell them what CROWE: It was irrelevant. When to do militarily, you have to go there. you’re in the policy business, nobody Don’t sit back here, let them do it, and wants to admit that anybody else then tell them how to do it. He agreed, knows more than you do. NATO is [but] that didn’t mean anything also a problem for many of those issues Ambassador Philip Kaiser Admiral William Crowe because his people didn’t agree. I was talking about. Russia and Bosnia Q: Was this the NSC? were handled in Brussels instead of DST Board and Advisory CROWE: Largely, but not solely. It individual capitals. So much business Council member, Adm. was also the State Department, ... They goes across borders now. AWilliam Crowe, died on know about everything and don’t mind Q: Did you feel a frustration within the October 18th of this year, at the age of telling people how to do things. ruling class in Great Britain––not the 82. He passed away at Bethesda Naval Q: Leaving it to the ambassador to deal social class but the politicians and the Hospital after a long and illustrious with the Foreign Office and all? military––because power was slipping career that encompassed diplomacy, CROWE: In all fairness, I don’t away to Europe and to Brussels? public service, and the highest levels in think this is true of smaller embassies. CROWE: This was a constant theme. the U.S. Navy. Admiral Crowe retired They are still very powerful because I don’t think they understand how from active military service in 1989. they [handle] issues the people in much it has slipped. They constantly An Annapolis-trained submarine Washington haven’t focused on. argue about it. That’s their problem officer, he volunteered for duty in If an issue comes up, they ask the with going into Europe. They don’t Vietnam at the age of 44; years later ambassador what should we do? In a want to sacrifice all their leverage, their he became only the third admiral to place like Britain, on big issues like authority, everything that controls chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As JSC NATO orientation or Bosnia, nothing their own destiny in Europe. It’s much chairman, he presided over the military goes through the embassy. They conflict with Libyan leader Moammar more of a problem in their councils send over envoys and delegations, than it is in ours. They are in Europe; Gadhafi and our navy’s protection of and the president talks to the prime oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during we aren’t. the Iran-Iraq war and also led a series minister on the phone. I had a hard On the other hand, it’s interesting of groundbreaking meetings with his time finding out what they said, and I about their economy. The British have Soviet counterpart as the Cold War usually found out from the British, not little faith in the European economy. thawed in the late 1980s. from the Americans. Three weeks later If you talk to the average British With three advanced degrees, I’d get a message, saying the president businessman, he’d much rather invest he more than held his own as U.S. said so and so. money in the United States than in Ambassador to the Court of St.