The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Women Ambassadors Series AMBASSADOR FAITH RYAN WHITTLESEY Interviewed by: Ann Miller Morin Initial interview date: December 7, 1988 Copyright 2 2 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS ackground Early Years in New Jersey and New York Wells College Summer in Austria (niv. of Pennsylvania Law School Ford Foundation ,rant -Academy of .nt. Law, The Hague 0Family 1ecollections, Early Professional Life Summer Stock 2arriage Teacher in Philadelphia .nner City Schools anking Law 1esearch Law Clerk to a Federal Judge Early Career Husband3s Campaign for Pennsylvania Legislature Lawyer in Department of Public Welfare Assistant (.S. Attorney 1esponse to 4ietnam Political Career Pennsylvania Legislator Death of Husband County Commissioner Delegate to 1epublican Convention of 1577 Political Struggles as Party Leader 1eform of Southeastern Penn Transportation Authority Candidate for Lt. ,overnor of Pennsylvania 0Comments on Political Figures 1eagan for Presidency Campaign 1580 1 A Founder of Penn. Committee for 1eagan Struggle for Political Power Contacts with National Politicians Post-Election Activities 2ember of Philadelphia Law Firm Job Seekers Pressure to Join 1eagan Administration Nomination as Ambassador to Switzerland Comments about Nancy 1eagan Ambassadors3 Course Preparations for Post riefings in Washington Swearing-in Ceremony ern . 1581-1583 First Days 1esentment of DC2 1elationship with (S Ambassador in ,eneva 1elations with Swiss-American Chamber in Zurich Staff Dismissal of DC2 Change of (S.A Officer Controversial Appointment of New DC2 Operations No Disadvantage as a Woman Public Diplomacy .nsider Trading .ssue Comments On Political Appointees On Functional Specialists On 1eception of ,uests White House Assignment Assistant to President for Public Liaison 1ival Camps within White House Women3s .ssues Outreach Program on Central America Comments about White House Officials ?Last Conservative on 1eagan3s Staff“ ern .. 158A-1588 1eappointed Ambassador Senate Hearings Comments of (S 1eligious ,roups 2 Soviet Disinformation .ssues Airplane Sales anking Problems Staff 2atters Dismissal of (S.S Officer Consul ,eneral in Zurich DC2 Political Officer Personal Attacks on Self Controversy over Entertainment Fund Economic Officer Congressional Hearings 2edia Criticisms .ran-Contra Scandal Department of State ureaucracy Accomplishments 1esolution of .nsider Trading Controversy Civil Aviation Agreement and Sale of Planes Law Enforcement Cooperation EBport Control Agreements Post- ern President of American Swiss Association Swiss-American Friendship Award 2ember of Law Firm INTERVIEW Q: Ambassador will you tell us about where you were born and where you grew up, a little about your earlier years& WH.TTLESEYC . was born February 1, 1535 in Jersey City, New Jersey. 2y father was first generation .rish. His father had come from County Cork in .reland and landed in Hoboken. He worked for the railroads in New York state. He was what we would describe today as a court stenographer for railroad work-related hearings. His father3s mother came from .reland as a widow with three small sons. She had a bakery shop. 2y father never went beyond the eighth grade. He came from a family of siB. .n the way the .rish have been described in the (nited States, . suppose his background would be described as that of the ?shanty“ .rish, not the ?lace curtain“ .rish. He grew up in Hoboken and was the oldest of siB. He had to leave school to go to work to help support the other children in the family and his parents. 2y father retained his .rish wit and charm, for which the .rish are famous, and love of people and a genuine nobility of spirit, 3 which was always a great inspiration to me. Even though my father had limited education and made grammatical errors, he was a true gentleman in every respect of the word, in that he would be uncomfortable when a waitress took his plates from the table. .nstinctively he wanted to help her because he was a gentleman and didn3t want to see a lady lifting things that were too heavy or doing work that he thought was in some way demeaning to her. 2y father3s family members were involved in politics. .n particular my father3s sister was active in the Eenney machine in Jersey City, but my father himself was never involved in politics nor took any particular interest in it. 2y father was always doing things for people, though, like local .rish politicians often did. He would go up and down the block wherever we lived, helping various households, wives, grandmothers, other men who needed assistance in various projects. He was a very generous and outgoing person. 2y mother was born in far northern New York state near Ogdensburg. 2y mother3s family came to the (nited States in 1748 from Scotland and Northern .reland. They were staunch Calvinists. 2y mother lived a very hard life. She was one of 17 children, one of two girls. There were four sets of twins. 2y grandmother was the teacher in the one- room school in the town. Land for the school had been donated by my grandfather to the town. 2y mother grew up on a farm of about 400 acres, living with 17 children in the family in what amounted to a log cabin. There were three rooms. 2y mother was a twin. Ten of the 17 children died at home before puberty of some mysterious illness. They believed in education. 2y grandmother was the teacher in the one-room school. They recited Shakespeare in the barn. 2y mother went to what was then called a normal school in Potsdam, New York, Potsdam State Teachers College, to become a teacher. She also had gone to high school in ,overneur, New York, which reFuired her to travel in a wagon and a horse with all her belongings and food and supplies for the week to the town of ,overneur, which was some twenty miles away from her farm, where she lived alone in a rooming house. As a young girl, it was Fuite an ordeal for my mother but she is a highly intelligent woman and a woman of intellect and interest in learning - so she endured. ecause life for her had been so hard in northern New York state, my mother inspired me profoundly. She believes in strict discipline. suppose one humorous way of describing her approach to life would be ?pleasure is the absence of pain.“ She had an injury to her knee at the age of nineteen which caused her great pain throughout her entire life. She limps but never utters a word of complaint. Ten of her seventeen siblings died before they reached puberty. They were all cared for at home with the eBception of the last one, who died in the state hospital. They were very proud of the fact that despite the fact that these children had what amounted to a deteriorating mental condition, amounting to some kind of degeneration of the brain which resulted in loss of control, both mental and physical, they never asked for any help from anyone. The family had a tradition of taking care of its own. This tradition, of 4 course, has been entirely lost, well not entirely lost today, but largely lost when families today believe that they are entitled to state care for every imaginable ill. This is in complete contrast to the attitude of my mother3s family which was that the family would take care of its own difficulties within the family. This model, of course, was always very much in the forefront of my mind when . became involved in politics and as . looked back on the eBperiences of my parents which formed my attitudes and beliefs. 2y mother became a teacher in a one-room school in the Catskills region of New York state near 2aybrook where she had gone after she taught in various other places in New York state. She was the truant officer, she was a teacher, she was everything. She had to go to the mountain families and persuade them to put their children in school. When she went to visit their homes she told us that she would see the children running away into the woods because they weren3t used to seeing strangers. The Catskills was a different place in those days. At the age of 25 in that part of New York state she met my father and they were married. 2y mother was brought up as a strict ProtestantG my father was 1oman Catholic in the .rish tradition. 2y mother3s family did not approve, not only of my father3s religion, but of his lack of education. 2y mother3s brothers had gone to Colgate (niversity and St. Lawrence (niversity and they looked down at my father. As a result they barely spoke to my mother from that point on in her life, and virtually ostracized her from the family, which was a cause of great pain to her throughout her life. 2y father3s family, being .rish was more welcoming. They also had some difficulty with the miBed marriage, but were generally more open to my mother. 2y father has always been deeply in love with my mother and he remains so to this day. 0They3re both over eighty now.) As a result, he left the 1oman Catholic Church and . was raised as a 2ethodist. 2y parents lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, which is where they settled after they were married. 2y father worked in the railroad and related railroad positions. During the war he was sent to western New York state to work in the transportation industry. He was too old to be drafted. 2y mother, because she was college-educated, was enlisted in the war effort and worked testing airplane engines throughout the war. 2y earliest memories are of being taken to some kind of a day-care center which was associated with the war plant where my mother was working.