- I chose to study at George Washington and Georgetown, and of course studied economics
and history, international affairs, diplomatic and consulate practice.
Particularly at Georgetown where I got my degree in Bachelor of Science.
Once again, by the time I had finished my studies at Georgetown in the spring of '56,
I had already taken the exam for the Foreign Service and passed it in late '55.
To prepare me to go overseas, I was trained in the French language for about five months.
And was actually offered by one of my coworkers in the employment division, a job that had
come available and which he then needed to fill, which involved being a political officer
at the Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia.
The president, of course, had been president for a very long time.
And the label of dictator fits, but benevolent should go with it.
And I wasn't prepared for the Volta and to stay quite as well as I should've been.
And when I got there, I found that it was a place where I felt more at home and more
comfortable and more appreciative of Africans and their thinking and their behavior.
- [Bill] So, this was a promotion?
You became deputy, deputy chief?
- Yeah, not a big deal, I was still a political officer.
That was my primary job, doing political reporting and being the only person there with that
title.
But I was also the deputy to the ambassador.
So, that's called the deputy chief of mission.
And I had a very accomplished Africanist as ambassador.
He had been at Columbia University and his name is Elliott Skinner.
And Dr. Skinner had done his anthropological studies in Upper Volta and had learned one
of the principle languages, Moore, which is spoken by the Mossi and several other peoples,
I guess.
Deputy chief of mission and for the first time, we were able to use the word minister-counselor.
And it's kind of a pay grade with a lofty sounding title.
- [Bill] Okay.
And so, you were there for two years?
Two years and.
- A little over two years.
- [Bill] A little over two years.
And what do you remember about that?
- I think about those years not only as Senegalese years, but Leopold Senghor years.
- [Bill] One kind of leader to another, another kind of leader, you went to Kinshasa, Zaire,
right, 1977 to '80, you were based?
- '77 to '80.
- [Bill] Yeah, so you were based in Kinshasa and.
- And as the assistant to the ambassador, the deputy chief admission, and I think they
called us minister-counselor there as well.
- [Bill] And there you had dealings with Mobutu.
- I had dealings that started with being very much aware that our mission was enormous.
But it was the administration of Carter, and the telephone call came from the assistant
secretary for Africa, who told me that the president had inquired would I go and do the
job in Guinea of chief of mission or ambassador.
I was back in the department of state at the end of my assignment to Guinea, and I got
a telephone call, a personal call, from President Reagan.
And he asked me over the telephone if I would be willing to be his ambassador to Uganda.
And I knew that Uganda was in a dreadful state, but at the time it appealed to me.
And I'd already gotten a reputation for going to places like that, so for better or for
worse, I accepted it.