Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR EDWARD BRYNN Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 28, 2000 Copyright 2003 ADS TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Pittsburg , Pennsylvania; raised in Maine and Vermont Georgetown (niversity; Stanford (niversity; Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland, (.S. Air Force (.S. Air Force Academy . History Professor 1901.1922 Entered Foreign Service 1922 Colombo, Sri 5anka . Economic Officer 1923.1927 Tamils Madam Bandaranaike Economy AID 8esignation (.S. Air Force Academy . Instructor 1927.1921 Bamako, Mali . DCM 1921.1999 Moussa Traore Environment Economy Corruption Frenc Peace Corps AID Comoran Federation :asser Arafat Foreign 5egion :aounde, Cameroon . DCM 1912.1919 Peace Corps AID 1 Frenc Environment Government Senior Seminar 1919.1990 Burkina Faso . Ambassador 1990.1993 Neig bors C arles Taylor Qad afi Environment AID Peace Corps AIDS Frenc State Department . African Affairs . Deputy Assistant Secretary 1993.1997 8eorganization Nigeria African corps 8wanda killings Tutsi.Hutu relations Frenc G ana . Ambassador 1997.1991 Nkruma J.J. 8awlings 8elations Economy AID 5iberia Elections President Clinton visit National War College 1991.1999 8etirement 1999 (niversity of Nort Carolina at C arlotte A Professor 1999 INTERVIEW Q: oday is April 28, 2000. his is an interview with Edward Brynn. his is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and raining, and I(m Charles Stuart 2 Kennedy. Ed, let(s start at the beginning. )hen and where were you born* B8:NN: I was born in Pittsburg , Pennsylvania on August 1st, 19C2. Q: Can you tell me something about your father and his background* B8:NN: My fat er was born in Pittsburg as well. His fat er ad come from Norway. His fat er was an engineer w o was ired by Westing ouse and worked on updating locks to be placed in t e Panama Canal, and t en my fat erDs fat er settled in Pittsburg . My fat er went to grade sc ool and ig sc ool in Pittsburg , but is fat er ad a very serious stroke and died w ile my fat er was in ig sc ool. My grandmot er took my fat er, t e youngest of t e four c ildren back to Norway. S e was of German background and got along very poorly wit t e Norwegian family, so s e returned to Pittsburg and t e (nited States wit my fat er. For financial reasons e did not go to college and started working for an insurance company in Pittsburg . He ad a very good mat . oriented mind and moved up fairly Euickly. He met my mot er, w o was a secretary in t e same insurance company in Pittsburg . T ey were married in 1931. My fat er went t roug t e war period in Pittsburg . W en inducted for service t e doctors determined t at e apparently ad tuberculosis, and it was recommended t at e leave Pittsburg , w ic was at t at time a difficult place... Q: It was a smoky city. B8:NN: ...Euite different from today. So t ey moved to Vermont, w ic , of course, was a state wit old.line insurance companies. My fat er began working for National 5ife, w ic is located in Montpelier, and remained t ere for is entire career. I was four years old in 19C0 w en t ey moved to Montpelier, and I stayed t ere until I went off to college. Q: )hat(s the background of your mother* B8:NN: My mot er is from Dunbar, Pennsylvania. I guess t e closest connection to t e Foreign Service is t at George Mars allDs fat er ran t e coal mine in Dunbar and t ey lived in (niontown a few miles, somet ing, of course, w ic never crossed my mind as a kid. S e came out of a large Iris Cat olic family. Her fat er was a coal miner. S e did not go to college eit er and, as I say, met my fat er w ile s e was a secretary in Pittsburg and moved to Vermont in 19C0. Q: In 19.6, could you talk about growing up as a kid, first elementary, but also family life in Montpelier. B8:NN: Well, Montpelier was and remains t e smallest capital in t e (nited States of and wit 1,700 people. I turned out to be t e oldest of siF kids. We were all two years apart one from anot er wit in a mont or so. Q: A Catholic family* 3 B8:NN: A Cat olic family. In fact, my mot erDs family was Cat olic. My fat er was Euite devoutly 5ut eran, w ic was always a point of some tension in t e family, until fairly late w en, I suspect mainly to keep t e peace, my fat er converted and became a Cat olic. Q: 1ne knows where the power is. B8:NN: Absolutely. 5ooking back on growing up in Montpelier, it was in many respects an ideal place, a clean town, a fairly w ite.collar town because of t e presence of eadEuarters for a couple of insurance companies. Crime was almost unknown. I went to a small Cat olic grade sc ool and ig sc ool, I guess most distinguis ed by t e fact t at I was t ree years be ind Pat 5ea y, our Senator from Vermont. We went to t e same grade sc ool and ig sc ool toget er. It was a very Iris Cat olic community on t e Cat olic side and in constant distinction wit a very congregational Protestant Waspis community on t e ot er side, but in fact t e values were very muc t e same. Per aps t e only real c allenge was t e growt of a parallel Cat olic community forged w en large numbers of QuGbGcois came sout after World Wars I and II. Q: Did Catholic kids go with Catholic kids, play with Catholic kids, and Protestant kids play with Protestants, or was it pretty mi3ed* B8:NN: It was pretty miFed. We referred to t e Protestants at HpublicsD because t ey went to t e public sc ool and t e public sc ool was at t e bottom of a ill. After a big wet snowstorm we could roll large snowballs down into t eir play yard and watc t em run for t e building. But actually, because of t e size of t e town, we all congregated around t e swimming pool in t e summer, w ere I ended up being a lifeguard. I donDt recall t ere was muc division between t e groups religiously. T ere was owever, a small group of Iestablis mentJ families w o ran t e community discreetly, and I must say, intelligently. Q: )hat about family life* Did you gather around and discuss things at the table* B8:NN: :es. My parents were bot keenly aware t at t ey ad not been able to go to a university. My fat er took upon imself t e task of reading t e Encyclopedia Britannica from fore to aft over a period of several years and never forgot anyt ing in it. He tended to be a little bit of a bore from time to time in reminding us t at we ad our facts wrong. My mot erDs tec niEue was somew at different. T is became more obvious w en we were older. S e insisted as we went off to college t at we never part wit any of our teFtbooks. We ad to bring t em ome at t e end of t e semester. S e would t en read t em during t e neFt semester, and at t e end of t at semester w en we of course ad forgotten muc of w at weDd learned, s e would t en sit us down for an afternoon and Euery us as to w at we ad learned a semester past, one of t e more gruesome eFperiences. But t roug t is process s e became eFtraordinarily well informed, alt oug I canDt say t at eit er of my parents was particularly aware of t e world outside t e (nited States. T ey were avid newspaper readers and book readers, and I t ink t ey did t is in part to elp us. C My fat er was a staunc 8epublican of a moderate stripe, w ic is w at you ad to be in Vermont because unlike New Hamps ire t ereDs not muc eFtremism in politics. My mot er was a staunc Democrat at a time w en t e entire Democratic party statewide was very small. But I t ink bot of t em looked up t eir common ero to be FD8 and t ere was always a lot of reverential talk about FD8. I donDt recall after t at t ere was muc reverential talk about any politician, but FD8 was sort of a lodestone for bot of t em. Q: 1kay, elementary school: Catholic, run by nuns* B8:NN: :es, absolutely, t e Sisters of Mercy, w ic may ave been a misnomer, very strict, at least it seemed at t e time. Classes were enormously large. I t ink I ad sometimes 00 or 20 kids in a class under t e control of t e nun.