Ambassador William Fletcher Warren Oral History Interviews, Vol II

Notice
This is a transcription of an interview for the Oral History Program at East Texas State University, Commerce, Texas. A draft of this transcript was edited by the interviewee but only minor emendations were made; therefore, the reader should remember that this is essentially a transcript of the spoken, rather than the written word.

Numbers appearing in square brackets (ex. [45]) within the transcript indicate the pagination in the original, hardcopy version of the oral history interview.

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Opened February, 1974
Harry S. Truman Library
Independence, Missouri

[1]

PARHAM: This interview made on September 24, 1973, is with Ambassador Fletcher Warren. It will become a part of the East Texas State University Oral History Project. The interviewer is Dr. Byron A. Parham.

Ambassador Warren, if we could, today I would like to pick up your Foreign Service career. The next item I see on your biography is listed as being appointed to the post of consul at Barranquilla, Colombia, between 1929 and 1931. Could you give us some of your recollections from that assignment?

WARREN: In some ways, this was one of the most important assignments I had because it was my first assignment as an officer in charge of a post. It was my first independent post. Mrs. Warren and I went down full of enthusiasm and impressed with the fact that I was going to represent Uncle Sam in this north Colombian, Caribbean port of Barranquilla. It proved to be a

[2]

WARREN: very interesting post. I went there with some hesitation because all of my friends had gotten assignments in better posts. Barranquilla was tropical and supposed to have been an
uninteresting Caribbean port. It was anything but that.

I liked it because we soon came to like the people of Barranquilla. The work in the office was interesting and more than I could do. The office was run-down, and I was to have the chance to try to build it up. I was to see just what it meant to carry all the responsibility for a Foreign Service post, a consulate. It was hot. It was on the north coast. It was difficult. For instance, there was no place in town where I could get lunch except at a dirty, little flyspecked restaurant run by Peter Bean. That was his shortened name. He was a Greek who had been in the United States, later caught by World War I on a visit to Greece, and had never been able to get back to the U.S. Barranquilla was as close as he could get. He had a little restaurant. He did the best he could for me and Herbert W. Carlson, the vice consul, at lunch each day. To show you the state of things, at that time waffles were unknown to the Barranquilleros, and Pete used to cook up a batch of waffles and put them in his window and leave them there until he sold them. But he did

[3]

the best he could and we came to like him. We were sorry that we couldn't get him a visa to come to the United States. He would have made a good citizen.

The work of the office was the normal work: passports, visas, protection cases, commercial work, and marine work with the American vessels and crews. When I got there, I was the only American on the staff. The rest of the staff consisted of two Colombians and a Jamaican whom we called Sully--his name was Sullivan--who was the janitor, messenger, and handyman of all kinds. He was black as the ace of spades and as loyal as they come. I soon got an English girl for stenographer, and after that we were on the move.

[As consul at Barranquilla], I had the distinct advantage of serving under one of the outstanding career officers in the Foreign Service. His name was Jefferson Caffrey, a native of Louisiana. He spent more time as an ambassador than any man in the history of the United States. He is retired, as I remember now. I may be in error in saying he retired from Rome. After he married--he married when he was an old man--he and his wife chose Rome in which to live. Only recently they returned to Lafayette, Louisiana, Caffrey's hometown. She died and he is now living in the Ramada Inn in Lafayette.

[4]

It was an inspiration to work for him and to have the advantage of having really and truly an expert to check on me from time to time. He was in Bogota, of course, and I was in Barranquilla.

The first airline in South America was Scadta which later came to be known as Avianca. It was German-operated with German pilots and German planes, and they furnished expert airmail service between Bogota and Barranquilla. So I was in close touch with our legation in Bogata. I got to know Caffrey, and I have kept in touch with him leisurely, all through the years until the present time.

There I also came to know one of those Americans who go out to Latin American countries and spend their lives there developing a business and making sufficient [money] to retire on in the United States when they are old. His name was Hubert W. Baker. He and his wife--I think she was an American woman from North Carolina--had an American home. It was known as the American home in Barranquilla. They stayed there until his death. Then Mrs. Baker stayed on about ten years or so. She retired and moved to Palo Alto, California, and then to Tombstone, Arizona. He was a constant help to me and showed me how an American conducts himself so as

[5]

to live happily and interestingly with a foreign people. He had been in the ministry, I believe, before he left and went into business. That was H. W. Baker. His store was known as "Alambre de Or o," meaning "Golden Wire. " He imported golden wire from the States or Europe and made rings and earrings and things like that while he developed a store in addition. That's the principal way we Americans have advanced .in Latin America. These men and women have carried the ball for the rest of the United States in what they did there. In this we were following, somewhat, after the Germans. The only thing was that if Baker had been a German, he would have married a local girl and would have become a local citizen and his children would have been half-German and half-Colombian. They would have gone to Germany for an education, and they would have come back and fitted into the picture. That's the way the Germans worked. Ours, I think, was a little more sophisticated, but probably not quite as effective.

It was in Barranquilla also that I met Samuel W. Hollopeter, from Leo, Indiana. A man that was almost a cross section of the United States, he was so American. He spent his whole life in this port. He went down there for the Continental National Bank of Chicago. If not, it can be identified as the Dawes Bank.

[6]

Early, that was in 1929 before I got there, the bank had made a big loan to the city of Barranquilla, Colombia, for the improvements in streets, waterways, water service, and all the things that needed to be done. They sent Sam Hollopeter from Indiana--Purdue University--to ride herd on the money. He did such a good job that there was never one breath of scandal in the expenditure of that money. It was paid back, and then the bank made another loan.

Hollopeter never learned to speak Spanish. I remember going to the Rotary Club one day when in fun, they presented him with a paper brochure entitled "How to Learn Spanish in Seventeen Years." It didn't bother Sam a bit. You know that Latin America has the reputation for a lot of "under the counter" activity. Some of the Latins I knew thought that Sam was getting a rake-off. They thought they couldn't catch him at it because he was smarter than they were. They were never more wrong. He never got one penny except the salary that the company paid him. But, to the last, they considered that Sam was just smarter than they. They couldn't see how a man could handle so much money and never have any of it stick to his fingers. He is another American that I was then, and I am to this day, very proud to call a friend. He is now retired and

[7]

living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I have said that this was my first independent post. I had wondered, naturally, if I could do the job. Well, something happened here to give me confidence in the way I was conducting myself and the way I was conducting my office. We had quite a large Chinese colony in Barranquilla. They had no consul. They came to me and asked me to be the Chinese consul for them. I was as helpful to them as I could be, as I knew how to be, without having [the] approval of Washington or anything. I helped them any way I could; and when I got ready to leave, they gave me a great big Chinese dinner which I appreciated very much indeed. That was the first thing that made me think, "Warren, maybe you can do it." I was on my own. I was very proud of that and very pleased.

PARHAM: Was this with or without Washington's approval?

WARREN: I can't remember now, Dr. Parham. I must have told Washington because there was nothing underhanded about it. But it was not inspired governmentally. It was the initiative of the Chinese, and they called me the "Chinese Consul."

PARHAM: You were probably an honorary consul.

WARREN: Yes, that's right. That's exactly what it was in their concept.

[8]

PARHAM: I was only thinking of the American rule of not being able to work for our government and another government too.

WARREN: Yes, it was in that sense. It was an honorary [title]. There was never a penny paid or anything like that. It was just something I did for the good relations between us and the Chinese and the Barranquilleros. It was very nice.

PARHAM: What was the nearest Chinese senior official [with whom you worked]? Do you recall?

WARREN: I don't recall now, but I would bet a hundred dollars that the nearest one was in Panama. And, of course, he knew [about my activities for the local Chinese].

PARHAM: Yes, they [knew], of course.

WARREN: Now another thing happened here. I met my first real world-celebrity in Barranquilla. Juan Trippe and a group of men--it didn't include then, but it did soon include the man who is now our representative in Red China, [Ambassador] David K. E. Bruce--had acquired a little company that operated airplanes between Key West, [Florida], and Havana while I was there. As I remember now, they acquired it about 1926. Might have been '27. I was on duty in Washington at the time. They acquired it, and it became Pan American Airways. That was our first American airline, and I still prefer it to all the others put together. Well, they

[9]

acquired it after I left Panama. After I left, I'm sorry, Cuba. Havana. About 1929. I would say it was in the fall of 1929. As you know, the seasons don't mean much after you get that far south. You can't tell because it's tropical. It's summer all the time. But I would say it was the fall of 1929. Juan Trippe and his wife set out on an exploratory trip to South America to determine where airports could be set up for the Pan American Airways. Barranquilla was right on the route. The Trippes had as their pilot a young man accompanied by his wife. The wife went along, I'm sure, as company for Mrs. Trippe. She was the daughter of the man who was ambassador to Mexico City. Maybe I'll think of his name in a minute.

PARHAM: Dwight Morrow?

WARREN: Dwight Morrow. Her husband was Charles Augustus Lindbergh. Charles A. Lindbergh. Barranquilla then didn't have any landing field. None of those places had. There was a pasture, as I remember, out south of town, west of the Magdalena River. This plane of Juan Trippe, piloted by young Lindbergh who had flown solo to Paris, came in to Barranquilla, flew in over that [open field-]--and he had been told where the airport was--and all Barranquilla was out there. Of course, there was no good radio or anything at that time to tell them what they were doing or how they were doing

[10]

or anything; but Lindbergh and Trippe flew over, and the moment they flew over, why, everybody rushed out onto the field. Lindbergh couldn't land. So he circled back and flew over again. He had a rock for some reason in his plane, and he wrote a little note, Lindbergh did, and said, "Get the people off this airfield and behind that wooden shack over there." He dropped that. It was picked up, and the responsible Colombians tried to do what he asked. He came over again and the people ran right back on the field. Lindbergh couldn't land. We didn't know it then, but he was out of gas. He went on--the plane was an amphibian--and he flew on and landed without gas on a lagoon of the river out of our sight but not too far away. Some Indians helped the members of the party get in to land, and they stayed all night that night in Barranquilla. The next morning, we got out, all the other Americans and the Colombians, to go see young Lindbergh and Mrs. Lindbergh and Juan Trippe and his wife [take off]. That acquaintance with Lindbergh was to continue, and we last saw him when he had supper with us while we were in the embassy in Turkey. That's another story. We'll get to that. But this was the first world figure that I had met. [Interruption]

In all my service I only had a bribe offered to me

[11]

once, and that was in Barranquilla. The Barranquilleros decided to enlarge upon what they were doing with the money they got from the Chicago bank and for which Sam Hollopeter was the watchdog. They decided they wanted to make Barranquilla a real seaport. The seaport for Barranquilla was the little nearby coast village of Puerto Colombia. The Barranquilleros set out upon this and had they handled it just right, Barranquilla today would be, by far, the most important port in Colombia. They didn't handle it just right, but that's another story. One day I was sitting at my desk in Barranquilla and a gentleman, a Colombian, came in to see me. I knew who he was. I didn't know him very well. He was very likable as are almost all the Colombians I ever met. We talked along, and I waited as I knew he had something on his mind. Finally he got around to it. He said, "I have the best piece of land in Colombia on the Magdalena River for the site of the new port." He said, "I know that the American consul here in Barranquilla is going to have a lot of influence with the American company that selects the site of that port." And he said, "I think you'll agree that I have the best piece of land." Well, he told me where the land was located. And he did have it. It was the best thing insight.

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He said, "Now I would like for you to help me get the American company to accept that plot of land." I imagine I started shaking my head, for he said, "I don't want you to do this for nothing." He said, "If you can help my get this piece of land, I'll give you seventy-five thousand dollars." Well, that floored me. I thought a second and I said, "Senor, I can't do that. But," I said, "I'll tell you what I will do. I happen to believe that you have the best piece of land there is and anything I can do to help in connection with the selection of the site, I will be glad to do. I'll do it because I'm the American consul here and that's part of my job to help the American interest." Well, the poor fellow was disappointed. He shook his head and went away. He couldn't quite believe that I would turn down that offer. He had thought over it and he had probably thought, "Well, that's enough to interest him and I'll make the offer." Incidentally, they finally got to the point of building a port at Barranquilla, but it was after I left. I do not believe that they took his piece of land. That is the only time that anyone tried to give me a bribe. Now let's see.

PARHAM: Let me interject a question here. Barranquilla was back from the coast. What was it's importance that it would rate a consulate? Judging from what I have seen on a map,

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I thought it was a seaport. What was its importance?

WARREN: It was a seaport, but it wasn't on the sea. They wanted to bring the ships right up and dock them in the city, It was equivalent to building a canal like Houston, [Texas], has.

PARHAM: I see.

WARREN: Just about the same sort of proposition. The city was a commercial area, a good one, and it had a wonderful supply of water.

PARHAM: Was it an agricultural region or a mining region?

WARREN: Not mining, no. It was agricultural: cotton and bananas not too far away to the east, coffee from the interior, other things. The locale reminded me--the way it built up--something like Dallas and Fort Worth that grew up out here on the plains. It was due more to the initiative of the people living there than it was to its natural advantages, other than that it was on this wonderful river.

PARHAM: How far inland was it?

WARREN: I would say that it was about twelve miles up from the mouth of the Magdalena River, something like that. But the trouble was--I might as well state that here--the trouble was that there was a tremendous current off the mouth of the Magdalena River where it emptied into the Caribbean. That was the thing that finally, people said to me afterward, that

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finally ruined the project. They got the port and actually had some vessels come up there, but the current was such that it was not possible to keep the channel dredged out. Does that answer your [question]?

PARHAM: I think it does.

WARREN: One other thing and then we can leave Barranquilla. Just let me say that after all these years, my wife and I look back still with as much pleasure on Barranquilla, on our assignment there, as I suppose any place we had. We still have friends there after all these years. Moreover, I'm pretty sure that some of the furniture that we took down there, furniture which we bought in Wolfe City from Lem Titsworth--his widow lives here in town--and took there, is still in use in the home of one of the families there.

Now you often hear that the Latin Americans don't have a sense of humor. That is a long way from the truth. Wilhelmina and I found it a delightful sense of humor. That leads me to think about what occurred there in Barranquilla. I have not checked on it, but I have an idea--I'd bet money on it--that at the time of my retirement, I had had more service under authoritarian governments than any other man in the Foreign Service. I believe that is true. But there was one exception. When I was in Barranquilla, there was a democrat in--small "d"--in the

[15]

President's chair in Bogota. He had gone to Bogota after service in the United States as ambassador. His two daughters were brought up largely in the United States. They were very pro-American, liked the United States, and they believed in the democratic life. His name was Olaya Herrera. President Olaya Herrera must have had an illness so that his head set like this [tilted to the left], and here is where the nice touch of the Colombians came in. You could never guess what they called him. "Five-Until-Six." [Laughter] He was really the only true democrat that I ever served under. I think that is enough about Barranquilla. Except I was to return later as counselor of the embassy in Bogota some, let's see, '29, well, ten or twelve years later. We'll get to it.

PARHAM: Let me interject another question here. Most Americans, at least American students, when they think of Colombia, think of the Panama Canal episode with Colombia. Was there at this period, [the early 1930's], still a lingering bitterness as there had been at an earlier decade?

WARREN: That's a good question, and one I'm pleased that you asked. I never found among the rank and file the least resentment toward the United States because of the Panama Canal while I was there. That feeling had evaporated. The reason it evaporated, in my opinion, is they all knew, every Colombian, you

[16]

see, recognized in his mind that had Colombia been in the place of the United States, Colombia would have done just what the United States did. If we want to use a phrase which has been often heard, it was a part of Manifest Destiny that the United States should do that. Now I'll add something else that I do not think you will find written down. There was no resentment, but I'll bet you my life that if there is ever an opportunity for Colombia to "sock it to us," they will do it and figure that we have it coming to us. Yet I do not recall that I ever had any Colombian to express any resentment over the Panama Canal affair.

PARHAM: That sounds sort of like, on a different plane, Nathan Bedford Forrest's famous dictum of "getting there first with the most."

WARREN: Yes.

PARHAM: That's very interesting.

WARREN: Now let's see. Shall I give some little items that are not important in themselves but they show you how things worked?

One night I was at home and I got a call either from the telegraph office or from some member of my staff. It was probably from a member of the staff--probably from Herb Carlson or Jack Neal--that a telegram had come in.

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So I went down and decoded it. It started out, "You are transferred." I became so nervous that I could scarcely work out the code. I thought, "Now where in the world will I go from here?" I finally got through the decoding and it said, "Budapest." Well, I couldn't believe it, and we checked it again. But that was what it said. It was one of the most desirable posts in the world. If they had given me London or Berlin or Tokyo or any other nice place they could think of, I do not think I would have been as pleased as I was with Budapest. I rushed back home to tell Wilhelmina. I might add that we didn't lose much time in getting off to Budapest.

When we departed, I left Vice Consul Carlson in charge. I also left Jack Davis Neal, clerk-stenographer, whom I had gotten to apply for a position in the consulate while he was a senior in the University of Texas. He came into the Service as a clerk, served as a non-career vice consul. Then while I was in Washington during World War II, I got him assigned to the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation. From that post he got [into the Foreign Service] as a career officer and served all of his career in Latin America. His last post was as number two man in Lima under Ambassador Theodore Achilles. When he retired from the Foreign Service--I don't have the

[18]

record with me--I believe he had the rank of Foreign Service Officer, Class II, or he may have been I. Then he got a job with International Tel and Tel [Telephone and Telegraph] and he has been their troubleshooter until a few months ago when he retired. There was a man whose career I knew from the time he came in.

When he arrived in Barranquilla, Wilhelmina thought he was a distressed seaman. That is what she thought he was. But he was a wonderful person. I left Carlson and Neal there, but it wasn't long before they sent another consul. Warren, no, not Warren. His name was Magnuson. I'm trying to say the Senator from Washington. His name was Magnuson. But enough about that.

Wilhelmina and I went to the States, and then from the States, I sailed on the Leviathan to Cherbourg. From France, I went by rail down to Budapest, arriving there in August, 1931. Wilhelmina came later in October. She went to Texas first. She then joined me in Hungary.

Budapest was the most attractive assignment we ever had. It was glamorous as few posts in the world are. In the first place, I think it had more beautiful women in it than any post I've ever served. And there is no place where the American women got as big a thrill as they did out of those hand-kissing Hungarian army officers, navy officers, businessmen,

[19]

and all. Yes, it was a glamorous post. I arrived and took charge of the consulate general. I was hoping that I would be left in charge of the office but, of course, that was not to be. John Ball Osborne was sent as consul general. He was followed by a friend of mine, James B. Stewart. Stewart was later ambassador to Nicaragua, the first ambassador to Nicaragua, and I followed him. The Service in Hungary was interesting because, as I say, the association with the Hungarians and the "good life." There was no place that I ever served where living conditions were so pleasant. The foreign clerks were wonderful. All you had to do with one of those Hungarian clerks was to set out what he should do and it was done precisely the way you wanted it.

WARREN: I had a break in that I was in charge of the office several months before Consul General Osborne arrived. I came to know each and every member of the staff and had been able to establish friendly relations with all of them. Shortly before Consul General Stewart arrived, it became necessary to get new quarters. We had been in Arpad, A-R-P-A-D, Utca, U-T-C-A, Number 12, when Mr. Osborne arrived. But we found, before Mr. Stewart arrived, quarters at Szabadsag,

[20]

S-Z-A-B-A-D-S-A-G, Ter, T-E-R, quarters that would house both the legation and the consulate general. This was something new. It resulted from the unification of the Diplomatic and the Consular Service. As a result, both offices were in the legation and under the American minister.

I remember one little thing. I put this in, not in any egotistical sense, but to show you that there had been some "feeling" between the two services beforehand. In these quarters at Szabadsag Ter, we had a big basement and then a second floor. There was one beautiful room on the north side of the second floor, a round room. Conducting the negotiating with me was a Mr. David Williamson, a diplomatic officer, from the legation. He and I agreed that these were the best quarters and we got them. Before we got them, however, David said, "Fletch, that round room there, we'll save for the minister." I said, "David, that round room is for the consul general." "Well," he added, "how do you get that way?" I said, "All right, I get it or we do not agree on this site." He thought about that. It was a beautiful location. There couldn't have been a better location in the city of Budapest. He said, "All right." Sure enough, when we got over there, the consul general occupied the round room and the minister went

[21]

down the hall to the section where the legation was. So that worked out. I just recite this to show you that I was feeling the fact that he was diplomatic and I was consular and that he was trying to get the best for the legation. But his diplomatic effort didn't work that time.

At that point, Hungary was still under the onus, or the pain, of having lost part of Hungary to Rumania-Transylvania--as a result of World War I. The Hungarians had a slogan, "nem, nem, soha." Nem is spelled N-E-M, N-E-M, S, cidila under the "s," O-H-A, pronounced SHO HA, which means, "No, no, never." The Hungarians said they were not going to ever admit that Transylvania should be part of Rumania. That characterized and was the principal item in their foreign policy, and they lived up to it.

As the result of the failure of the Credit Anstalt in Central Europe which brought, as you know, the collapse of the monetary system of Austria and Hungary-and I do not recall what other countries--Hungary had an inflated currency in the time that I was there. When I got there, one dollar, U.S., would bring a lot more in the black market than it would at the official rate. But our policy was then, and we have lived up to it pretty well, that when a country had currency

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control, Uncle Sam observed it. Our official funds were cashed at the official rate; we were supposed to cash them at that rate and we did. Well, this shows; the inflated currency, the disturbance over the loss of their land. And it makes apparent the fact that Budapest--not to the same extent as Vienna, but to some extent--was too big for the area it served. Vienna was worse. As a result [of the Hungarian monetary problem], the League of Nations sent an advisor, an American, I believe, from Boston by the name of Royal Tyler, T-Y-L-E-R. He came down there to advise the Hungarians on financial matters and economic matters and to help them try to reach a stable currency. I came to know Mr. Tyler, but not so well as did the men in the legation because that was their primary responsibility. Our consular activities were still in the field that we have talked about in Barranquilla and in Cuba. But Tyler did a great job. Which brings me to tell you something--and I can't remember whether I told somebody else or told you. As I have said, we observed to the letter the rules with regard to cashing dollars. It was pretty hard sometimes to go to the Hungarian bank and turn over your dollars for, let's say, for ten pengo--I might spell pengo: P-E-N-G-Ö, two dots over the "o"--to turn in your dollar and get ten pengo when you could go down to the

[23]

corner somewhere or down to some merchant and maybe get fifteen or twenty. But we did observe the official rate! I brake the rule once, and I am willing now to go on record about that.

One day there entered my office in the consulate general a naturalized American. I could tell from his accent by that time, of course, that he had been Hungarian. He had been living out near Boise City, Oklahoma, out in the Oklahoma Panhandle. He had come back to Hungary on a visit and got caught by the financial failure and couldn't get back to the U.S.A. He came in and figuratively cried on my shoulder. I have scarcely ever felt so sorry for anybody as I did for this poor fellow who wanted to return to the States and was bemeaning himself for having come back to Budapest. He laid on my desk the dollars that he had managed to keep all this time. He said, "Mr. Consul, these are all the dollars I have. They are not enough to get me home. Isn't there any way that you can help me to get home?" "Well," I said, "you come back tomorrow and let me think about it." I thought it over. In a case like this, you don't ask Washington or anybody else what you are going to do. You make up your mind. If you are prepared to take the rap, you go ahead and do

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the necessary. If it works out, it's wonderful. And if it doesn't work out, you've got a black mark, you see. I thought about it. So the next day the old fellow came in. I said, "All right. You just leave this money with me and I'll see what we can do." He left. Well, sir, I held the money, the dollars, and I took them out and brought as many pengo in the black market for them as I could. The next day I sent one of my good men down to the Foreign Exchange to exchange them for dollars at the official rate. He brought them back. I kept this up until I had enough dollars to go down to the United States Lines and buy this old man transportation from Budapest to Boise City. He was the happiest Hungarian-American you'll ever see when I put him on the train. That was one time I thought it was just for the Hungarian Minister of Finance to take the rap to help that American get home, and I've never been sorry. I have since gone to Boise City to try to find him, but he was no longer there. He had either died or had moved somewhere else. I'm sorry I cannot tell you his name. If I could, I would go back to Washington to look up the record of whatever I sent into Washington on the case.

PARHAM: Did you tell Washington what you had done?

WARREN: No, no.

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PARHAM: Just a routine transaction

WARREN: Just a routine transaction. That is all. I didn't tell. I may have told Washington that the man had been repatriated, but I don't think I told how the fellow got the funds to do it. [Laughter]

Now Hungary was also suffering from the fact that following or as a part of World War I, the Russians had sent a Hungarian from Transylvania, from Cluj--it's now in Rumania. They had trained him and they sent him into Budapest. He led the revolution there known as the Bela Kun--B-E-L-A, one word; capital K-U-N, second word--Revolution. They set up a Communist government but they weren't able to continue it against the peasants and other hard-nosed citizens of Hungary. It finally folded. That "red" experience hurt Hungary very much. It was there I got my first taste of what Communist government means by hearing from Hungarians about what had taken place there. The Hungarians told the story--it may be apocryphal but it was related to me as the truth--that the man who had been . . . . You know, in the big banks they have a guard or an escort that stands at the door. They have one in my bank in Washington. They made him the president of the bank where he had been one of those guards. I learned a lot about that. I also learned

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about what they did in the police field, but that is another story. I just wanted to put that in that I got a chance to have firsthand information on that.

My boss in Budapest, the minister, was Nicholas Roosevelt. He belongs to the Oyster Bay Roosevelts and so was more closely related to Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt than he was to FDR. I remember that in the election, I guess it was--let's see, the election is in the even years--I guess it was in '32. I was interested in . . . . being young and idealistic, I was interested in Franklin D. Roosevelt, and here my boss was Nicholas Roosevelt of the other side. Nicholas Roosevelt was supporting Herbert Hoover. I can recall how Mr. Roosevelt and Frederick B. Lyon, with whom I was to be associated one way or another from then to the end of my service, chided re about favoring Franklin Roosevelt instead of Mr. Herbert Hoover. This was just in thinking, you know, just like we'd be talking, doing. I didn't do anything nor would I have done anything . . . . I can remember that. And to this day Mr. Nicholas Roosevelt is a friend of mine and lives at Big Sur, California. He is one of the outstanding ecologists or anti-pollutionists in the United States. He has done wonders in California. He lives up on the mountain at Big Sur, and you can look out there and see

[27]

almost to China. He had been named governor-general, as I remember, of the Philippines, but because some elements objected to him, Mr. Hoover changed the post and named him minister to Hungary. [He was] one of the finest and one of the most capable men I have ever known. That was my first contact with a Roosevelt-- "Rosevelt" I should say, not "Roosevelt." He was followed by [Minister] John F. Montgomery from California as his state of residence, but he was an Easterner. I don't know whether it was New Jersey or Pennsylvania or New York. Mr. Montgomery had made his fortune in condensed milk in St. Louis--oh, Missouri, he was from Missouri--and New York. He came out, and he was a political appointee, but one whose heart was in the right place and who intended to do a good job.

My friend, Consul General Stewart, certainly did everything he could to help him, and consequently Montgomery loved Jimmy Stewart. They became just as close as two Americans can usually become. Well, I believe that Mr. Montgomery had about as much early social background as I had had when I got in the Foreign Service which, I estimate in my case, was none. But I liked him and he was doing his best. He had a very socially-minded Foreign Service secretary--he had two or three of them but this one was very social--[David Williamson]. [David] is one

[28]

who entertained, and if the chief of mission wasn't careful, David would out-entertain him. Well, anyway it wasn't long until David didn't like Montgomery, and one of those things occurred which you get in any institution: he and Mr. Montgomery were at cross purposes. Well, once you got Mr. Montgomery at cross purposes, he was about as stubborn and as addicted to his own views as anybody I know. It wasn't long until Mr. Montgomery knew that David was playing at cross purposes, wasn't supporting him. But I think Mr. Montgomery would have kept him on to the end, put up with him. But one day Minister Montgomery got ahold of a legend or little phrase. No, it was a legend that David had circulated in the legation. It said, "All I am, I owe to U-D-D-E-R-S." As I recall, it was a clipping from the Reader's Digest. When Mr. Montgomery found that, he had Mr. Williamson transferred right away! That's just to show you some of the little things that go on. Although I liked David, I was ashamed of him for circulating the clipping.

It was during my stay in Budapest that the Department of Commerce, under [Secretary of Commerce] "Uncle" Dan Roper from South Carolina and Mr. Roosevelt, eliminated the Foreign Service of the Department of Commerce. Almost overnight, they wiped it out. Men who had put in ten or fifteen years service

[29]

suddenly found themselves without a job and their Service just wiped out. Well, it should have been wiped out, in my opinion, but that wasn't the way to have done it. But they did it. One of the men that got caught was my friend, Frederick B. Lyon, the one who had chided me about favoring Mr. Roosevelt. He came back to the States. At first he was with some Jewish firm up in New York handling chickens. You know, dressed chickens. Then he went with the Schenley
people and traveled over South and Central America peddling liquor--and his mother never did learn about that. He came to Nicaragua while I was there. I tried to help him accomplish his purpose there. After I got back to Washington and I was number two man in the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation, Freddy was in town and wanted a government job. I was able to help him to get a position in the Division of Protocol of the Department of State. Then later on, I assisted him to get transferred to the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation. We were back together again. Later on he was my counselor of embassy in Ankara. He was from Missouri, by the way, by way of Ann Arbor and Detroit. I don't have a better friend alive today than Frederick B. Lyon, and now he's got Parkinson's disease. But he and his wife Beth are in London at the moment. They went over there for the summer. I wanted you to get that story.

[30]

That's when the [Foreign Service of the] Department of Commerce was eliminated. There is talk today that Commerce wants to get reestablished as they did before. However, I don't think they'll ever be able to see the idea again. The consolidation has worked too well.

I had been in Hungary about three years, and I knew by that time what a good post it was and that hundreds of men wanted to come to a place like Budapest. I also realized that I couldn't stay there much longer. Consequently when I sent in the report for that year, I put on my report, "I'm perfectly happy in Budapest; and if the Department will leave me here just one more year, I will be ready to go anyplace it wants me to go. I won't care where it is or what part of the world it is." Well sir, that report reached the Personnel Division of the Department of State. The day it arrived there, they must have looked at it and they transferred me to Managua immediately. [Laughter] After that, I always went easy on asking for a post or to be left at a post. That finished up my career in Budapest.

I might add as a postscript, so to speak, that it was in Budapest that I came to know George S. Messersmith better. He was later Assistant Secretary of State, ambassador to

[31]

Argentina, and then ambassador to Mexico. He was one of the first-rate diplomats. He was a rival of Spruille Braden who also served in the Latin American Division as Assistant Secretary of State interested in Latin America. I called with Consul-General Stewart on Mr. Messersmith when he was our minister in Austria. Earlier he had made a wonderful record as consul general in Berlin. In his reporting he portrayed the Nazi development and denouement as the embassy had not. After that he was made a chief of diplomatic mission. That's when I first came to know him. George Strasser Messersmith, S-T-R-A-S-S-E-R, I believe. [Interruption] I never dreamed then that I would later serve as his executive assistant while he was Assistant Secretary of State.

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Fifth Interview with Ambassador William Fletcher Warren by Byron A. Parham, Commerce, Texas,
October 15, 1973.

Ambassador Warren, when we left off in our last interview, you had just completed an assignment as consul to Budapest, Hungary. Your next assignment, as you stated, was to Managua, Nicaragua, in the year 1934. If we can pick up here, would you tell us some of your recollections of your assignment to this station?

WARREN: Yes, I'm glad to do so because the transfer from Budapest to Managua represented a turning point in my Foreign Service career. Up to this point all my duties had been consular work. When I reported for duty in Managua, I was given the rating of second secretary and placed under another second secretary,

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[Allen Dawson], who had had experience at diplomatic work. Thus began my service as a diplomatic officer.

Managua was interesting because it was my first diplomatic post. I learned the routine, the mechanism involved in running the legation--today it is an embassy-and the methods of communicating with the [Nicaraguan] Foreign Office. I got to know the members of the Foreign Office and their relations to the government. I found it a fascinating assignment. I was working under one of the outstanding officers, diplomatic officers, of the United States Foreign Service. His name was [Minister] Arthur Bliss Lane of New York. Fate had it in store for me that I was to serve with him quite a number of years as I proceeded in my career. He taught me what I know about diplomacy, and the way it is carried on by the United States. I admired Lane, who was not much older than I was. I learned what it meant to conduct oneself with dignity in a foreign country and came to realize that once you're a diplomatic officer in the service of the United States and are abroad, there is never a moment when you are not under the questioning or critical eye of someone. That was the first big lesson that Arthur Lane taught me, but he taught me many others that he knew.

Managua was also interesting because it was the first

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place that Wilhelmina and I had ever lived in a governmental-owned house. It was one of these ready-made houses that had been shipped out from the United States after the earthquake of 1931. It was sitting out there on the more or less bare hill, lava hill, east of Managua, known by the good Spanish name of Chica Pelon which means little bald head. [Laughter] And that's what it reminded [me] of. It was right next to the airport. We loved that little house, and we loved the fact there was no monthly rent to be paid. It was Uncle Sam's. Uncle Sam was keeping it up. If it didn't meet the standards of the diplomatic world today, it met the standards that we were living up to at that time.

PARHAM: Was there any reduction in your salary for this service?

WARREN: No, no reduction in salary.

PARHAM: Good.

WARREN: We were approaching the time when Uncle Sam would learn that it was his obligation to furnish every person, officer or clerk, in the Foreign Service a place to live if it expected any man to go to any place to which he was assigned.

PARHAM: That's a far cry from the legation in London that was in the back alleyway, wasn't it?

WARREN: It is a far cry, indeed. It is a great satisfaction now

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to know if you hake a daughter entering the Foreign Service that she will have a decent place to go to, she will be met upon her arrival, and she will be associating with Americans in her out-of-office activities. No. We enjoyed that Chica Pelon house very much.

Managua gave us something else that we had heard about and read about and wondered about and asked about: what one did in a revolution. In Managua, we had one. We saw our first President, Dr. Juan B. Sacasa, deposed by one of his own family, a man who had married his niece. The man was Anastasio Somoza, who set up a regime that is still going today. We saw how a President is kicked out. We learned how the Latin re-emplacement for President tries to help the man kicked out as best he can. I was present and went to the ship with President Sacasa. The ship was in the harbor at Corinto. [I] went with other diplomats, including the Mexican charge' d' affaires. We saw the old gentleman--and he was a gentleman--put on board the vessel that was to take him into exile. That was a great lesson in my diplomatic education.

PARHAM: As you recall, what was the procedure used by young Sacasa then?

WARREN: You [mean] the young Somoza?

PARHAM: I'm sorry, the young Somoza.

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WARREN: Yes. You know that we had had military forces in Nicaragua.

PARHAM: Legation Guard, I believe it was called.

WARREN: Yes. That would be a euphemism because the guard was scattered all over the Republic and is, in effect, the Nicaraguan army. When we got ready to pull out of Nicaragua, it was necessary to select some Nicaraguan to head the National Guard, the Guardia Nacional. Well, there was a young sergeant, Nicaraguan, outstanding, who was military to the core, who loved it, who wanted it, and I am sure who prayed that he would get it. He had the confidence of the American officers in charge of the Guardia Nacional. He was selected and his name was Anastasio Somoza. Once in charge, he never let that Guard out of his control from that time until he was shot down by an assassin many years later. He used the Guard to kick out Dr. Sacasa, his wife's--Somoza's wife's-uncle. He sent Dr. Sacasa off to the United States. I might say in parenthesis that later I saw Dr. Sacasa, went to call on him in New York in the upper part of Manhattan. Later still, I believe he went on to live in Los Angeles. His family was out there. Enough of that.

Then having gotten rid of the President, it wasn't

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long until Somoza was President. As I recall at this date, he was not President when I left Nicaragua for the first time. Wilhelmina and I had come to know him and his wife and his family. He and Doña . . . .

PARHAM: Guillerma, isn't it?

WARREN: Yes. Doña. His wife's name escapes me. [Doña Salvadora] She was a Debayle. They had three children. One of them was Luis, the oldest; the second son was Anastasio, or Tachito; and the girl was Lillian. Luis later became President. The girl, Lillian, married a Nicaraguan, Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa, who was named by Somoza [as] Nicaraguan Ambassador to the United States and today is dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Washington, D. C. Tachito has been President and has now stepped down. There is someone else in the Presidency, but Tachito still controls the situation. In a word, we saw the founding of the Somoza dynasty and learned how a man could be forced out of the Presidency and depart his country with dignity. It was worth seeing.

It was in Managua that Wilhelmina and I came to love the Nicaraguans despite the very hot, humid climate there. We also came to like the diplomatic work very much. Until Managua, as I have said, I had had no diplomatic assignment; and after I got to Managua, I never had any consular work again. Therefore, Managua ended my consular work and started me on the diplomatic route. I have been

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asked many times what is the difference between the two. I didn't know then. I do not now know if my colleagues will agree with me. But I would say that a trained consular officer in charge of a consulate is running a legation or an embassy in microcosm. If you do a good job as a consular officer, cover all the things that should be covered in a consular office, then you are having the very best training for a diplomatic assignment. The difference between the two is a difference of degree and a differences of location. You only truly do consular work today if you are in some city other than the capital of the nation. As such you are reporting to the ambassador and are, in effect, a part of his set-up in the capital although you may be five hundred miles away. The way the Service works now there is very little difference between the consular work and the diplomatic work because the officer in charge in the capital is calling on you for the diplomatic information in your district that he cannot readily obtain in the capital. One result of this shift in our work was the decision of both Wilhelmina and me that we liked the work in the legation or in the embassy. So we made no complaint when we were not again given a consular post although I never knew but what I might get one at any time.

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Managua was interesting from another point of view for us. It was the first time that we had come to know a President and his family well. We knew Dr. Sacasa and his wife very well. We were with them often enough so that we felt entirely at ease with them. We went on picnics; we went on weekend parties; and we went to the ranches that the President had over the mountains in Nicaragua. Consequently, we had a different feeling toward the Service and came to see, came to learn, a lot about the way a President has to run a country in order to do the job. It was a new education for us in a new field, and we loved it. Also, at this same time, as you have guessed from what I have said above, we came to know the head of the army, Somoza, and his wife very well indeed and also his children and Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa, his future son-in-law. In this assignment, we laid the groundwork to come back ten years later as ambassador. I want to say again that I cannot properly express my indebtedness to Minister Arthur Bliss Lane and his charming wife who had been, I believe, born in Florence, Italy. Certainly she was brought up there. Her father was an American dentist there. When we were living out at Chica Pelon, the minister's residence was on the very top of the hill and the secretary's residence was down hill about a

[40]

block away. I might say here that when we went to Nicaragua, we took a Boston Bull puppy with us that we had obtained during our vacation in San Antonio. That puppy became known as Big Boy,* and he was to go with us and to get us in trouble at our next post.

After two years in this typically Latin American post, Arthur Bliss Lane was assigned as American minister to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. I indicated to him that if he had any place for me in Riga, that I would be pleased to go. Well, I was soon transferred to Riga as second secretary, the same rank I had had in Managua. Wilhelmina was already in the States. I left and came to the States with Big Boy. No, Wilhelmina had brought Big Boy. We had our vacation in Texas and in Washington, and then sailed on the United States Line from New York City on January 5, 1937, for Bremen--I'm sorry, for Hamburg, Germany. This was 1937, the sixteenth year of my service in the Foreign Service. We had a stormy crossing and arrived in Riga on the morning of January 19, 1937.

PARHAM: Did you go overland from Hamburg to Riga by train, I suppose?

WARREN: Yes. We first went from Hamburg down to Berlin, and then in Berlin, after a couple of days there, we went on by train to Riga. I might . . . .

*See Appendix, Attachment 1.

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PARHAM: Did you . . . ?

WARREN: Please, [go ahead].

PARHAM: Did you have an opportunity to make any evaluations of Berlin or Germany here in 1936? As you recall, what was it like?

WARREN: Well, first, to show you how human one is, the first recollection I remember is how cold it was, how bitterly cold. We were there. The Department gave us time in Berlin to go to the embassy and spend a couple or so days there. While we were there, Ambassador [Joseph] Davies was present on his way to Moscow. He was very much in the press because he was taking seventeen or some number of refrigerators of milk with him to Moscow.* Wilhelmina and I were invited to the embassy one cold afternoon and we didn't know how long it was going to take us to get there. We went early to the embassy and then walked out to the nearest park and stayed there until it was time to appear for the tea party. That was our introduction to the diplomatic life in Europe. We found Berlin a very attractive city with splendid hotels, beautiful streets, well-fed populace. An attractive European capital. There was nothing to indicate to us that it wouldn't be long until all this

*The American press quoted Ambassador Davies as saying, "We're on our milky way to Moscow."

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WARREN: would be changed. That is unless one had the magnetic ball and could read the future.

MRS.WARREN: Crystal ball.

WARREN: Crystal ball. All right, my dear. Thank you. The crystal ball. [Interruption] In Riga.

PARHAM: Yes. You were in Berlin.

WARREN: In Berlin. Yes, at the party for Ambassador Davies.

PARHAM: Joseph Davies.

WARREN: Yes. I believe it was the next day that we boarded the train for Riga. It took us all that day and night, and we arrived in Riga the next morning about four o'clock in the morning. As I remember, daylight came around nine o'clock. Anyway it was in the middle of the night. Everything was covered with snow. In Managua a cool day was 85 degrees, Fahrenheit. The morning we arrived in Riga, it was 10 degrees below zero, and the next morning it went down to 20 degrees below zero. That was our introduction to the Riga climate. You have the story of Big Boy and how he got us into trouble on the trip from New York to Hamburg?

PARHAM: As an appendix, I'll insert the newspaper article. [Attachment No. 1]

WARREN: Oh, good. It was so cold that I have seen Big Boy try to pick up all four feet at once to get his feet off the

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snow of Riga. The day we arrived, Minister and Mrs. Lane were down at Sochi or some other southern European resort for a holiday. He instructed that we be sent to his residence to stay until he and Mrs. Lane returned. After their return, we went to the Riga hotel--I'll give you the name of it a little later if I can recall it--and stayed until we had our own apartment. It was splendid to serve with Mr. and Mrs. Lane again and to see him working in the European atmosphere rather than that of Latin America. I learned then that every post requires a different approach, an adaptation to new circumstances, new customs, and new people. That was another big thing that I learned from Arthur Lane and I learned it in Riga.

PARHAM: Could you now give us an example of some of the duties of a legation secretary? You have already given us a good picture of a consular officer and you have explained that they are quite similar.

WARREN: Yes. Let me see if I can state that succinctly and to the point. The head of the diplomatic post, whether it is a legation or embassy or a special mission, is the chief of mission. In an embassy it is an ambassador; in a legation it is a minister or a charge d' affaires or a special representative. Often a businessman will be sent as ambassador or special representative, or someone particularly

[44]

qualified like the man who was sent to Germany from the University of Chicago to be ambassador. His office is staffed with career officers and career clerical personnel. If it is an embassy, the ranking officer in all probability is a political counselor of embassy. Then there are, under the political counselor, there are various other secretaries, maybe one or two or three first secretaries, or a first or second secretary. Usually there are several third secretaries. After that you get into the clerical personnel. Now the first thing that the chief of mission, the ambassador we'll say, does when he comes into the office in the morning is to go to his desk, and there are brought to him the telegrams which have arrived during the night. He has already divided the work of his embassy between the various secretaries. If there is something that he wants particular attention paid to, he will send it to his counselor or maybe to the military expert, or maybe it would be to the commercial attaché, or to a consul general if it has to do primarily with consular work. In other words, he gets those telegrams off of his desk as soon as he can to the men who have to handle the matter. Then, as the officer soon learns, he reports back to the ambassador or to his superior, and if it is required, have a drafted reply ready

[45]

for consideration. Suppose it is a local happening. As soon as the ambassador is through with his telegrams in the morning, then he takes up the thing that may be current in the place where he lives. Let's take a very minor matter but one that receives immediate attention. Suppose the American fleet is coming to town. The ambassador will call in his naval attaché, his military attaché, his military advisor, that is, of his own staff. If there are American troops there, he will call in the commander of the American troops, navy officers. He'll get everybody together and then they will line up what they are going to do, how they are going to do it, who is going to be responsible for doing it, and they follow that until the vessels leave.

Suppose there has been a riot and an American has been involved. That requires the closest attention. The ambassador will work with any of his staff that is necessary to have on the job, and they come up with a report. If they can prepare it within an hour, they're going to get it out to Washington if it is something that needs attention in Washington. One of the first things one learns in the Foreign Service is never to wait so long that Washington has to send you a telegram and say, "We have noticed in the New York Times that such-and-such a thing has

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happened. What about it?" You want Washington to know from you first, and you tell them what the facts are as far as you can see them. That, of course, entails having the best relations with the government itself where you are stationed, with the Americans in that place, with the police in that place, and maybe with the churchmen, depending upon what it is. In other words, you have got to have the connections already built up so that you can move in and get the information and get it quickly, and get it back to Washington. That would be an [example]. Then, of course, . . .

PARHAM: How far can an American diplomat intervene in a situation, say, involving an American citizen such as the example here, in a riot?

WARREN: My consul in Ankara was Paul Taylor. He's retired. If that had happened, I would send Paul to the police station right away to find out what the situation was. If the man was in jail, he would ask to see him. If the police started "fencing," why, then we would start putting on the pressure one way or another. At any rate, we want to see that man and know what he's got to say and have his story ready. Washington must know what he says about it. There is never any doubt. You don't wait for instructions or anything. You start moving the moment an

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American is involved in anything bad if it is important. Of course, a traffic accident, unless he kills somebody, . . . If that happens, why, you've got to move just as quickly. Just in parenthesis, I remember in one case a member of the staff in Managua ran over a man and killed him out in the country. The man was drunk.

PARHAM: The American or the Nicaraguan?

WARREN: The Nicaraguan. No, thank goodness, the American was not drunk. He was a responsible person. We went to that man's family, and we got it arranged so that a gift-or other money--was made to the family of that man before some lawyer or someone else had a chance to get a-hold of them and say, "Let's bring a suit against the American." We had the Managuan case tied up so that it was satisfactorily taken care of before anyone had a chance to cause us trouble. We never heard anything out of the case. We reported it to Washington. We never heard anything out of the Nicaraguans because they saw that we had done what we could for the man. But moving and moving quickly is the essence of the protection of American citizens and American interests. Now that's the end of that parenthesis.

Let's suppose that it was a matter in which an American company was involved. Suppose that we heard that the government was going to confiscate or take over an American

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corporation operating in that country. Then we would try to get a-hold of the American representative and get the story. Next, of course, we would start working with the Foreign Office. Of course, the story we would get from the foreign side would be somewhat different. Then you, as the representative of your government and representative of the firm that was in trouble, you have to try to decide where the truth lies. You must give him every protection you can, and at the same time so conduct yourself that you can keep the foreign government going along with you so as to get out of the development without any major conflict. In other words, the constant effort is to find a solution to every problem that comes up just as quickly as it comes up to prevent it from gnawing into a major international affair.

PARHAM: Do you have to employ local counsel for these man?

WARREN: No. The way that is done is the embassy keeps a list of responsible attorneys--and we are not going to put an attorney on there if we think he is anti-American, of course--and that list is supplied to the individual in trouble. If he is representing an American corporation he already has a good attorney. But if he doesn't, . . . Suppose it is something out of the line of his attorney, why, we will tell him what we think. But we will always give

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him a choice. We won't make the decision as to which attorney he should use. We give him a choice. Often the embassy-recommended or -named attorney will cooperate with some other attorney that the firm already has, depending on what the case is. But the big thing, the most desirable thing, is to get moving quickly and beat the other fellow to the punch. Try to keep the case always under your control so that you can make the next move, and then know what your next move is.

PARHAM: And try to provide the greatest service to the American.

WARREN: That you can possibly supply. Now, for instance, you saw recently where this boy and his wife from the University of Wisconsin came back from Chile the other day and told about all that they had seen, or told about what they said they had seen in Chile. Now it turns up that that boy was down there and he was doing a study on Marxism and the [President Salvador) Allende transfer of the Chilean system into the Marxist system that Allende was backing. When
they [the insurgents] went to [his room], they found all kinds of Marxist literature. Of course, that put him in bad with the government that was kicking out Marxism. This case highlights another thing: you have got to be careful that somebody doesn't get you into trouble by what he has been doing. So far as--this is

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just in passing--so far as this young man and his wife from the University of Wisconsin were concerned, they were just courting danger by doing that sort of thing and they should have known it. They thought, of course, that Allende was going to be able to keep control of the situation.

In addition to these things, these hypothetical or imaginary cases that I have mentioned, the office, that is the chancery, is so arranged, the work is so arranged, the work is so formalized, that it runs constantly, like a smooth-working machine. Births, deaths, marriages, estates, political developments, military developments. Of course, much of the military developments are handled as such in the military, naval, or air attaché offices. Does that give you some idea?

PARHAM: Yes, indeed.

WARREN: Good.

PARHAM: As I recall from what I have read in the history of our foreign relations, Latvia must not have been an active post, under a lot of pressure. Am I wrong on this?

WARREN: You're wrong.

PARHAM: It was a quiet post?

WARREN: It was not a quiet post because it was the listening post for the U.S.S.R.
[Interruption]

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[Let me go back a bit. I had been transferred from] Managua to have an European assignment and a complete change of [political] climate. To be there with my old chief, Arthur Bliss Lane, was another great boon. He had everything under control when Wilhelmina and I reached Latvia. All we had to do was to step into the place that he had ready for us.

In Latvia the President was Ulmanis, U-L-M-A-N-I-S. President [Karl] Ulmanis. His name, I was told, originally had been U-H-L-M-A-N-N, a German name. That doesn't necessarily mean that he was German, although he did look like a German. I saw him several times. Mr. Lane took me with him once or twice when he went to see the President, and we were there, it seems now, on social occasions. I liked the old man. He looked like the man that one sees advertising wine on the television, the one who says, "I'm the little old . . . ."

PARHAM: Winemaker?

WARREN: "Winemaker." Yes. Except President Ulmanis was a big man, but he was very calm, very reserved, and I deem very able because he had gone back to Riga during World War I when it looked like his native land and people were going to get their independence. He got back in time and became their President and they, the Letts, the Latvians, were doing wonders in organizing their country, getting it on a good, sound basis as

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a democratic nation. But the thing that interested me most about President Ulmanis was the fact that he had been living in America. I'm pretty sure--I can't prove this-but I'm pretty sure that he was a naturalized American citizen. He had, before returning to Latvia, managed a cheese factory in Nebraska and one in Texas, and then returned to become President of the Republic of Latvia. I like that. I liked talking to the old man. Had things gone differently, I had hoped someday to get him to tell me his story. But I never did.

PARHAM: Did you speak in English in this case? I suppose it was English?

WARREN: I spoke to him in English, to the President, and as I remember, so did Mr. Lane. No doubt, like every other Latvian, he spoke German and Russian and Lettish and perhaps Polish and maybe French--if he had been twenty years younger, certainly French--and in his case, also English, of course. Most educated Latvians spoke Lettish, Lithuanian, Russian, German, Polish, French, and maybe one or two others. Learning a language was nothing to them. They had to because were you to go forty miles in any direction, you were going to have to have another language in order to communicate with someone who spoke a different language from what you normally used.

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PARHAM: What was the attitude of the government toward your legation being the listening post for Russia? You mentioned that it was.

WARREN: Yes, it was. The attitude was based on the fact that they knew exactly what we were doing. They knew that perhaps it was the most important listening post in the world for Russia. They helped us any way they could. They knew that their future depended upon whatever course Russia took. They realized they couldn't buck Russia, although they did the best they could at it. I'm sure I'm right, although I cannot cite you chapter and verse, in saying that they did everything they could to help us in carrying out our mission of being a listening post for Russia.

PARHAM: As a listening post, was this monitoring of radio traffic, or just obtaining whatever information that came to hand?

WARREN: No, no. Just obtaining whatever information we could get in Latvia, whatever we could get anywhere around, whatever the embassy in Moscow could send us. All of that. We would turn out thick studies on legal size sheets of any subject.

PARHAM: A couple of inches thick.

WARREN: Yes. I've seen them. That's where my friend--we'll mention [him] later. His name was Packer, Earl L. Packer, who

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outranked me by two weeks. That was his great forte: preparing studies and conducting research and getting down to the basic facts. He would have been a great research man anywhere. That's why I came to call him the comma chaser because he could not let any piece of work go over his desk that had not been changed in some way. He had to do it. That doesn't mean I didn't love him. But he caused me to lose a trip around the world just by adding three words and a comma to a telegram I sent in to him. I don't know whether you want me to tell that yet.

PARHAM: Yes, by all means.

WARREN: Mr. Lane was down in the south of Europe or Russia, somewhere. Anyway he was on vacation. Earl Packer, my friend, was charge d' affaires. I was number two under him. I had been reassigned as consul to Kobe, Japan, and I was to leave that next afternoon. Yes. I was to leave that next afternoon with Wilhelmina and Big Boy for Vladivostok on the Trans -Siberian. Something I'd wanted to do all my life. I drafted a telegram to the Department saying . . . .
I should add also that Earl Packer had been away too, so I was in charge. Mr. Lane was away. Packer was away. Earl came back late at night and the next morning, the first thing, I drafted a telegram and kept it to the minimum as the Department wanted us to do: "Packer arrived, assumed

[55]

charge. Warren." I sent it in to Earl to see. Well, he picked that thing up and looked at it and looked at it and looked at it. He had to change something. I could kick him now for it. He looked at that and he took his pen--I can see him as if it were done this morning--and he very carefully made a comma out of that period after "assumed charge," and added these two words: "Warren leaves this afternoon." Four words: "Warren leaves this afternoon." Well, I had no objection to that. I didn't see why, but I didn't see any need for him to do it. You see, there's eight hours difference in time between Riga and Washington so that telegram was on the desk of George Strasser Messersmith, the Assistant Secretary of State, when he arrived at the Department the next morning. I didn't know it, and Earl didn't know it. None of us knew it but Messersmith was thinking of changing my assignment as consul at Kobe to make me his executive assistant in the Department of State. When that message reached his desk, he rushed a telegram--because by the time he got it, I had already left Riga for Moscow for the Trans-Siberian, you see. He sent a telegram to Moscow pulling us off the train in Moscow and sending us back to Washington. If it hadn't been for that friend of mine, Messersmith would not have awakened

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WARREN: to the fact that I was on my way to Kobe. I'd have got the trip to Kobe; and when I arrived, there would have been a telegram ordering me to Washington. And I would have come right on back home--a trip around the world. [Laughter] It makes me mad today when I think of it. I'll never make it now, of course.

PARHAM: Where had you met Messersmith?

WARREN: Messersmith? Well, you see, he was then Assistant Secretary of State. I had known him from my first assignment to the Department of State, 1925 to 1929, when I was in the Reception Room 115 of the old Consular Bureau and he was consul general in Antwerp. I had met him then. When he became Assistant Secretary of State, he decided that I would be a good man for administrative assistant to him. It was in the Department of State that I had met Messersmith, to answer your question directly.

PARHAM: Now he made his name in Berlin after the ambassador was recalled.* I was wondering if he had been at the embassy when you went through on your way to Riga?

WARREN: He was a dear friend of James B. Stewart, my boss in Budapest, and he had come to Budapest. I had

*The ambassador to Germany was William E. Dodd, former professor at Chicago University, whose daughter married a Communist related to Julius Rosenwald. The couple later disappeared in Europe, perhaps behind the Iron Curtain.

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seen him there; and then I had gone with James B. Stewart, Wilhelmina and I had gone with the Stewarts, to Vienna and we called on Minister Messersmith when he was in Vienna. So I had that contact in addition. It was just one of those quirks of fate that we were thrown together a lot. I went back and served with him until he was sent out as ambassador to Argentina. Then I inherited my good friend, Assistant Secretary [of State] Adolf A. Berle, as my new chief.

PARHAM: He was a very fine and very capable man.

WARREN: Oh, I liked Mr. Messersmith. I liked him very much. Now let's see where we are.

PARHAM: You were just finishing up your assignment in Latvia.

WARREN: Yes, that's right.

PARHAM: Let's see, you were promoted to first secretary while you were there in Riga, weren't you?

WARREN: I don't remember now. I haven't looked it up. I don't remember whether that happened . . . . I believe it did happen while I was there, and then when I got back to Washington, they made me counselor of embassy when they sent me to Bogota. Yes, I guess that's right.

In the listening post in Riga, our counterpart in Moscow was none other than Loy Wesley Henderson, the man who came to be known as Mr. Foreign Service. He became Assistant Secretary of State. He was a great person. He

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was a very junior man while I was in Riga, about the same age as Arthur Bliss Lane and yet he was holding down the embassy in Moscow. Lane had the three missions: Riga, Tallinn, and Kaunas. He was holding those and he and Henderson used to work just like that. [Indicates very closely] I can hear them now talking over the telephone, Arthur trying to get through to Moscow or Loy trying to get through to Riga. That was my first real connection with Loy Henderson and we were friends for the rest of the time. He is a very old man now, retired, living in Washington. But he was on the Russian end of this thing and Mr. Lane was heading up the works in Riga.

I will just mention very quickly that from Riga I made several trips behind the Iron Certain to Moscow. I remember going into a hotel there in Moscow. I can't remember now whether it was a hotel or whether it was the embassy, but I believe it was the hotel. As the Department does now, it sent couriers to carry our official mail from one place to the other, from Riga to Moscow and Moscow to Riga.

PARHAM: Do you mean baggage or dispatches?

WARREN: Dispatches.

PARHAM: Yes.

WARREN: Yes. And, of course, often it included foodstuffs and

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anything else needed. But this case was purely mail. You'll see why in just a second. They told me, "John Smith," whoever it was, "is courier today." I said, "Is that so? Where is he?" They told me the room number and I went there. I knocked on the door and he said, "Come in," and I walked in. He shook his head to wake up. He was sitting there asleep and had those mailbags manacled to his wrists so that nobody could get those without waking him. That shows what care the Department used in transporting stuff between the two capitals.

PARHAM: How big a bag did they carry, say, when they carried foodstuffs?

WARREN: Foodstuffs, the normal American mailbags, just like you see at the post office.

PARHAM: They must have been extremely heavy.

WARREN: They were. They were. I wish I could tell you a story about the mail, but I can't do that. It's too long. Next Wilhelmina and I were in Riga at the time of the Russian purges--those awful purges.

PARHAM: You were in Russia or in Riga?

WARREN: In Riga at the time of the purges. We used to seek the explanation of how the Russian authorities could make those accused Russians testify exactly what they wanted

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them to testify. I can remember our talking out that hours on end.

PARHAM: Did you ever come up with a conclusion?

WARREN: Well, it was because they were able to put pressure on the individual. He would say whatever they told him beforehand they would expect him to say.

PARHAM: Well, we know today that they exerted tremendous psychological pressure on them, including drugs [to "brain-wash" them].

WARREN: Yes, and they had their families, you see. A man, if [he] was going to die, had rather die in peace and know that his family was not going to be bothered.

PARHAM: In peace with a promise.

WARREN: Yes, that's right. We had one important visitor in Riga and that was ex-President Herbert C. Hoover. He came over. He had just been to Berlin and all that area and he told us about his conversations. He wasn't too convinced that war was going to break out. But it did break out before he got back to the United States. He left Riga to go to Tallinn. After that I do not know where he went.

PARHAM: What sort of a reception did you give for an ex-President? Or was he just another visitor?

WARREN: Well, he was a private citizen then. But now we have a

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friend in Caracas, Venezuela, an Estonian, who was high in the Foreign Office in Tallinn. The Foreign Office sent him down with a special railway car so that Mr. Hoover had a special railway car for the trip from Riga to Tallinn. He came in--I don't remember now how he came in--but he came in appropriately from Germany or wherever the last place was that he had stopped. That night my friend, Earl Packer-Mr. Lane wasn't there--gave a dinner at his residence for Mr. Hoover, the men that were with him, and the legation officers and wives. We all sat there in Earl's apartment, talked, drank, and spent the evening together. The next morning he got up, entered his private car, and went on to Tallinn with Albert Tattar who is now an American citizen with the Alcoa Company in Caracas, one of the big American businessmen in Caracas.

PARHAM: How do you spell his name? T-A- . . . ?

WARREN: T-A-T-T-.A-F.

PARHAMA; T-A-T-A-R?

WARREN: Two "T's." T-A-T-T-A-R. [Interruption] We have a picture of that group. The Packers that I mentioned earlier this afternoon went into the little town in Iowa that Hoover came from.

MRS. WARREN: Where is he from? Whose town?

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WARREN: What's the name of the town? Well, anyway they went into this little town and they had a museum there. It was Hoover's hometown. [West Branch] And they had this picture.

PARHAM: They have the presidential library there, the Hoover Library. I've forgotten . . . . I can locate it very quickly.

WARREN: Yes, it's some kind of library. Right. It will probably come to me later, but I don't have it when I need it. They've got a copy of this picture there, and Mrs. Packer wrote Wilhelmina a letter and said, "Can you remember who was in the picture?" I think we got all but one, maybe two.

It was an interesting thing and it was particularly interesting to me because here was a man who had been President of the United States, and the Germans had not given him enough truthful information so that he could judge that the war was going to break out right away. There. is one other thing. you want to let me tell you a funny story?

PARHAM: Sure.

WARREN: All right. I don't want to put in stuff you don't want. Minister Lane was away from Riga; Earl Packer was charge' d' affaires. I was number two in the list then with

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Mr. Lane away. The inspector, a man by the name of [Avra M.] Warren, the same name as mine, came to town to inspect our legation. By the way, I might add here that I later followed Warren, my friend, as ambassador in Turkey. Avra Warren came and he gave us an inspection. Earl and Iris Packer gave a dinner for the inspector and it was a nice affair. But no inspector should come to town with just one dinner in his honor. So it was up to the [Fletcher] Warrens the next night to give another dinner.

MRS. WARREN: We waited till he got through.

WARREN: What?

MRS. WARREN: We waited till he got through inspecting.

WARREN: It was up to the Warrens to give a party and we gave one in our apartment. And it was a good party. I can assure you that the food was good. Wilhelmina had a good cook and she got the best there to be cooked. We had known Warren for some time. We had lived in Washington at the same time. He was from Maryland. Wilhelmina "put the big pot in the little one and threw the house out the window," as they say in Spanish and staged her dinner.

Well, everybody came on time, in tuxedo, black tie. Everything was going off very well. I have mentioned several times Big Boy, the quietest Boston terrier you

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ever saw. While we were sitting at dinner, Wilhelmina sitting opposite me, next to Inspector Warren, and my right was sitting Packer's wife, Iris. The Packers and the [Fletcher] Warrens were very good, very close friends. While the dinner was going splendidly, I said myself, "Well, I guess maybe I'm going to get out this inspection all right." I was talking to Iris on the one side and somebody else on the other. Then Wilhelmina looked down and she felt something on her feet. She thought a moment. Then she knew that Big Boy had very quietly come in out of the reception room and, as he did when she and I were alone, he came around and he inspected feet until he found Wilhelmina's feet. When he did, he just as quietly, never a sound, put himself down on her feet. When Wilhelmina felt that . . . ! Imagine a dinner party with sixteen or twenty people and everybody having a good time, laughing, eating good food. Wilhelmina has no inhibitions and when she felt Big Boy on her feet, she called out, "Big Boy, come out from under there and go back where you were!" Well, you can imagine what that did to a diplomatic dinner. They didn't know who Big Boy was, or where he was, or anything. But what Big Boy had done, he had started, you see, with Iris' feet because that's where

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Wilhelmina usually sat when we were together. And he decided , "No, those feet don't belong to my mistress, " and he moved around till he found Wilhelmina. When he did and Wilhelmina's bombshell fell, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone looked around just like this. [Indicates bewilderment] Then Iris Packer, who was just as uninhibited as Wilhelmina, said just as loud as we are talking now, "Fletch, I thought that was you?" [Laughter] Thank God, the Inspector and everyone else roared.

Finally came our transfer to Kobe, Japan. I was to be in charge of the consulate there. There had been talk from time to time of sending me to the Far East. But I never had any desire to go, or intention of going, until this transfer came out of the clear. We got ready and Wilhelmina and I got on the train with Big Boy and the food for the trip across Siberia. We left at four o'clock in the afternoon.

PARHAM: Did you have to cook for yourself?

WARREN: No, no, but we had stuff that we could prepare, if we wanted, on the train so that we wouldn't be dependent on the Russian food. We had plenty of gin bottles for the water, and we were all prepared for a wonderful trip across Siberia. The next morning about ten o'clock we reached Moscow and a delegation of three or four

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people that I knew met us and said, "We want you to come down to the embassy right away." They took Wilhelmina and Big Boy to the official residence of the secretaries and put her in an apartment. They took me down there and [Ambassador] Alexander Kirk, one of our career diplomats of the same vintage and ability as Arthur Bliss Lane, was in charge. He called me in and said, "Here is a telegram." He handed me a telegram from George S. Messersmith saying, "I want you to come back to Washington to be my administrative assistant."

Moscow was as far east as I got. We turned around, went to Hamburg, turned in our old tickets, and got new ones back to New York. We got back to Washington on July 3, . . .

PARHAM: Third?

WARREN: Fourth of July, 1938. That ends the . . . .

PARHAM: Now if you had gone on to Japan, what was the tour then, two to three years?

WARREN: Yes.

PARHAM: Do you think you would have been in Japan when war broke out? Would there have been such a possibility if you had gone on?

WARREN: That's another story. I can tell it here very quickly.

PARHAM: Sure.

WARREN: That's exactly what would have happened. The man who took my place, a friend of mine, Louis Gurley, did go

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out there. The war broke out; the Japs seized him; he spent months and months and months in a Japanese prison camp; and finally when the Department got him released and brought back to the States on the Gripsholm, . . .

PARHAM: Gripsholm.

WARREN: . . . Gripsholm, one of those Swedish ships, he was ill. They shipped him out to Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Denver where he died. It could have been Fletcher Warren.

PARHAM: From what I have read of the experiences of our diplomatic personnel who were interned in Japan, the men who were of smaller stature, physical size, made it much better than those who were much larger. Judging from your physical appearance, it would have been extremely hard on you.

WARREN: It would have been hard. It would have been hard. It would have been even harder because they didn't send prisoners to Japan. They kept him in the Philippine Islands. I would have been in that camp at the Philippine Islands as he was.

PARHAM: Did he just happen to be in the Philippines when war broke out?

WARREN: No, they sent him there.

PARHAM: Oh, I see.

WARREN: They sent him there. Now wait just a minute. I'm glad you asked that question. I've always said--and I must

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have known--that he was in the Japanese prison camp in the Philippines. But maybe he was because he was in Kobe-did I say Kobe--he was in Kobe's consulate when they got him. Oh, maybe . . . . You know, we tried to move some people out, do you remember, from various parts we tried to get them together. For instance, Wilhelmina and I had another friend, a consul general, Nathaniel P. Davis, who was also caught in the Philippines. They had any number of Foreign Service officers there. So that was it.

PARHAM: Well, then in November of 1941 the State Department did advise all Americans to get out of China, particularly Shanghai.

WARREN: Well, this man took my place in Kobe and he was in the Japanese prison camp and he died.

Mrs. Warren and I left Riga before the Germans, and later the Russians, came in and took over Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. When they took over Riga, they captured President Ulmanis of Latvia and took him away from Riga. It was not known where they took him. They also took away the Minister for Foreign Affairs. [V.] Munters. That's another story. There was a very good British Military Attaché in Riga and he frequently went to Moscow. One day he was in Moscow walking down the streets

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of Moscow when he looked up and saw coming toward him President Ulmanis of Latvia. He was a prisoner. Behind him was a Russian soldier with a gun and bayonet. As the British Military Attaché-I'm sorry I can't give his name, it's possible to determine it--looked up, Ulmanis happened to catch his eye and shook his head.

PARHAM: Shook his head, "No."

WARREN: Shook his head, "No." So the British Military Attaché passed by the President of Latvia without admitting any recognition at all or giving any recognition at all to the President. The attaché walked on and didn't look back. So far as we Americans know . . . . So far as I know, I'll put it that way. So far as I know, that was the last Britisher or American that saw President Ulmanis. I don't know what became of him. I do know that the Minister for Foreign Affairs who had a brother that was an American sea captain--his name also was Munters, M-U-N-T-E-R-S, he ended up managing a textile mill for the Russians somewhere within Russia.

PARHAM: One last question. Would you concur with the general contention that the people of Latvia did not voluntarily incorporate themselves . . .

WARREN: Yes, sir!! They were forced.

PARHAM: . . . nor ask for incorporation into the Soviet Union?

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WARREN: Yes, sir! They were forced.

PARHAM: The victim of aggression.

WARREN: That's right. And a good part--I haven't seen any figures but maybe as much as 60 percent of the Lettish people were moved out of Latvia and sent out to Siberia or to some other part of Russia.

PARHAM: To break the nationalist spirit?

WARREN: Yes. The same thing happened in Estonia as it did in Lithuania. This friend Albert Tattar that I've mentioned earlier managed to escape. He was at that time on duty in Germany in the legation, in the Lettish legation. Not the Lettish, the Estonian legation. He went back to Tallinn because the Foreign Office told him to come back. He did go back. He walked into the Foreign Office; he saw the person he was supposed to see; got up and walked out. He was to come back to the Foreign Office the next morning. He knew that that would end him so he kept going. He went down to the railway station, down to the railway yards and stayed down there, and caught the first train out and was able to get back to Germany.

MRS. WARREN: Did he get out on a ship?

WARREN: What?

MRS. WARREN: Did he get out on a ship?

WARREN: Yes, I guess it was a ship. He went from the railway yards

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down to the docks. He went on down to the docks and sneaked aboard a ship, and got back to Germany. Ultimately he showed up in New York. He got in touch with me--I was in the State Department then--and finally he got a job with the Aluminum Corporation of America.

PARHAM: That was a pretty close call.

WARREN: A close call. We could tell you another one but that's enough of that!

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Sixth Interview with Ambassador William Fletcher Warren by Byron A. Parham, Commerce, Texas,
October 22, 1973.

PARHAM: Ambassador Warren, I'd like to pick up today [with] your assignment to the Department of State in 1938, in which you became the executive assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. George S. Messersmith, [and with your] reminiscences of this assignment.

WARREN: Am I on? I came back from Moscow to become, as you know, executive assistant to Assistant Secretary George Strasser Messersmith, as our prior conversations will show. I had known him for some years and he personally selected me to come back to be his assistant. As it turned out, this was a wonderful break for me because it put me in the Department of State during the prosecution of World War II.

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Mr. Messersmith was a career man who had come up from the ranks. He started out with an appointment to some little place like Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada. But he had the makings of a career man and of being an instrument for the making of a career service. He went right up in the Service. I first recall meeting him when he was consul-general at Antwerp and then I saw him again in Vienna and at one other time. I liked him very much. He was demanding and exacting but he was a first rate officer and an outstanding American. I got pleasure out of working for him. He had one notable characteristic: when he was writing a letter or a report, he would stress the theme or the important point in the letter one or two or even three times, which is contrary to the departmental procedure. I had spent all of my years in the Service learning to write a straight forward report without repetition of any kind. The first thing I had to learn in working for Mr. Messersmith was to be able to draft a letter and say the same thing two or three times each in a different way. All of us who worked for Mr. Messersmith managed to do that. He said that it was necessary to repeat an idea two or three times before the average person would get what you were driving at. He saw that we did that in

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preparing work for his signature.

I remember that one day--it must not have been more than a year or so after I arrived in Washington from Riga and Moscow--the Assistant Secretary was called to the White House to see Mr. Roosevelt, President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt. When he came back, he rang for me and told me, "We in this nation are in a tight spot. War is around us. We do not have a coordinated intelligence service in our government . " He went on, "As you know, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] has its role, and ONI [Office of Naval Intelligence] works in the navy. Army intelligence has its thing." He mentioned some of the different people that were interested in intelligence in the government. Then he said, "The President has asked me to coordinate all of this information. He has asked me to see it and to be able to know what is going on so that one person will know what all these agencies have in mind." I'm speaking now as I recall it after all these years.

PARHAM: Do you recall that this was about a year after you returned from Europe? 1939?

WARREN: I would say this was in '39 or maybe '40. It couldn't have been much later than that. It would be possible, I think, if it were necessary, to ascertain more or less

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the time that this was. At any rate, it shows that we were beginning in the Department of State to be very conscious of the world war situation that was bearing down upon us.

PARHAM: This work that Mr. Messersmith was to handle, would you call this, political intelligence?

WARREN: There was .

PARHAM: Or was it more comprehensive?

WARREN: It was to be, as I understood it, all-comprehensive. Of course, a great part of it was political. And then he turned to me and said, "You're it," meaning that I was to look at the stuff and keep him informed of what was going on. Well, I didn't realize then, and I'm not sure that I fully realize in 1973, just the extent of this. But I do recall clearly that that was the beginning of what was soon called, in the Department of State, the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation. I remember that he asked me to call a meeting of the top men in ONI and army intelligence and in the FBI in his office; and I did. I can't remember who the other people were by name. I do recall--unless my memory failed me completely--that the army representative was General Nelson Miles, the son of the old Indian fighter. I remember that in discussing matters with these men that I was

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surprised when I asked General Miles, "Suppose we were invading 'X' country. Do we have now information so that we could go into the first important town that we come to and seize the light plant, the telephone system, the water supply, and the principal things so that we could take control of the town immediately?" Miles said, "No, we do not have that." Now this was just before we got into World War II, and that made a big impression on me. After that by various orders, the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation duties were defined, outlined, and specified from time to time. It was a hush-hush organization, and we managed to keep it that way all through the war.

I might mention here the men that worked with me in that organization. There was Frederick B. Lyon, Foreign Service officer. We had served together in Budapest and then in Washington. He had been with the Department of Commerce Service but had transferred to the State Department after he had been dismissed, after the Department of Commerce Service had been upset, disbanded, or destroyed. That was the beginning of a friendship with Freddie Lyon that has continued to this day. Later on he was counselor of embassy in Ankara under me and left there to go as consul general

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in Algiers. Then there was Winthrop Murray Crane, the grandson of old Senator Winthrop Murray Crane of Massachusetts, a contemporary of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. Winthrop--we called him Win--stayed with us until the war broke out and then he enlisted in the army. When we invaded Italy, he was there as a lieutenant.

There was an instructor in the University of Pittsburgh by the name of Herbert J. Cummings. Herb was a great admirer of Assistant Secretary Adolf Berle. Herb was a liberal as was Dr. Berle. Cummings was so concerned about his duty to his country and what could be done that he threw up his job at the University of Pittsburgh and came to Washington to see Dr. Berle. He said, "Here I am. Give me something to do." Berle called me on the telephone and said, "I've got a man sitting out here. Can you use him in your work?" I told Dr. Berle, "We can use as many good men as you will give us." So he said, "Come and get him." I went and got Herb Cummings. He stayed with us in Foreign Activity Correlation until the war was over. Then he became a vice consul, served in Turkey, and then came back home. He's one of the top echelon of experts in the Department of Commerce today and lives down in southwest Washington.

Oscar Straus of the New York Straus family was also a member of FC [Division of foreign Activity Correlation]. He

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stayed with us until he entered the Coast Guard and served there during the war. Then I believe he came back to FC after his Coast Guard service.

There also was an old ex-navy man, Walter H. A. Coleman, whom I loved like a brother. He was an enlisted man in the navy and had worked himself up to a good job in the Foreign Service. We also had E. V. Polutnik. He had been vice consul with me in the Budapest Consulate General. I must also mention Jack Davis Neal whom I had gotten into the Foreign Service as a clerk in Barranquilla. At the time that he came to join us in FC, he was vice consul in Mexico. He served in FC during the war. After the war, he was made a career officer in the Foreign Service and stayed on in the Foreign Service, became a Class I or Class II man. I don't know which. Probably Class I. He was counselor of embassy in Peru under Ambassador Theodore Achilles. When he left the Foreign Service, he became the diplomatic troubleshooter for IT&T [International Telephone and Telegraph]. He retired in June this year from IT&T. He's now living in Washington.

That was the backbone of FC. I just want to say here--because I'm proud of it--that we never had a leak in FC in the time that I was there or in the time

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Frederick B. Lyon was there. When I went out to Bogota it must have been, Frederick Lyon was made the Chief of Foreign Activity Correlation. I was never chief. I started the thing off, and then they brought in an ambassador, George Cordon, and put him over me. Just before I was to go to Bogotá, Ambassador Cordon retired. I asked Mr. Berle to name Frederick Lyon as chief because I would be leaving shortly for the field. That is the beginning and the story of FC up to the time that I went to Bogota.

I was transferred from the Department to Bogotá as counselor of embassy. That put me in the rank of the non-minister and non-ambassadorial class. I went there to join my old chief and my good friend, Arthur Bliss Lane.

Do you want to ask any questions at this point

PARHAM: I was just wondering if you could possibly give us an example of some of the activities which the Foreign Activity Correlation group handled, anything in particular that you can say?

WARREN: I'm going to let what you read here, in these two books, here . . . .

PARHAM: Very well.

WARREN: That will touch that. That's already printed, and no one

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can accuse me of divulging something that I shouldn't. [Appended as Attachment No .2 ].

In going to Bogotá, as I have said, I was joining Ambassador Arthur Bliss Lane, an old friend and my tutor in the Foreign Service. When I got there, I found another Texan on the staff.. He had been a Department of Commerce officer who had transferred to the State Department when the Foreign Service of the Department of Commerce was abolished. His name was Barry T. Benson from Ladonia, seven miles from Wolfe City. He was the favorite of the embassy, and it was a pleasure to have him there. I felt like I had someone from my own home right in the office with me.

When I was in the University of Texas in 1915-1916, at some point I took Latin American history. My teacher was William E. Dunn. When I got to Bogotá, William E. Dunn came as Counselor of Embassy for Economic Affairs. Dunn had been economic advisor, or financial advisor to the dictator in the Dominican Republic, and I believe he also served in Haiti. But disregard that. I know he was in [the Dominican Republic]. From then on, from the time that we were together in Bogotá, we continued in close association. By chance I was at his funeral in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and his wife, a friend of Wilhelmina and me, asked me to say something at the interment. So in Bogotá I had two friends,

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two Texans, from within spitting distance of Greenville one from Sulphur Springs and one from Ladonia.

As you will have gathered from what has been said before, Mr. Lane did more for me than any other man unless it was Adolf Berle. But Mr. Lane cheated me out of two things--not in the sense that he wanted to cheat me out of anything. I think he would have done anything for me he could. But an opportunity came for me to fly in one of our government planes to Leticia, which had been very much in the news. It was a sore spot--and may yet be a sore spot again--between Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. However, Mr. Lane had to go to Washington or some other place, so I had to take charge of the embassy. I didn't get to make the trip to Leticia. A little later an opportunity came to go to Manaos. I had always wanted to go to Manaos. I had heard about that great theatre there. At one point of my service, I had a girl, clerk-secretary, who had been born in Manaos, the daughter of a Virginian and a Brazilian lady. She had told me much about Manaos. [also Manaus.]

PARHAM: That's in Brazil, right?

WARREN: That's in Brazil, one thousand miles up the [Amazon] River from the Atlantic Ocean. Well, I had a chance to go there, but Mr. Lane had to go somewhere else and I was left in charge of the embassy and couldn't go. I'll never see those two

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spots that have had a great attraction for me.

I'd like to tell you--am I taking too much time? I'd like to tell you one thing about Mr. Lane and his direction of an embassy. He ran a taut ship. Everything had to be done just as it should be done according to the rulebook. He knew how to do it and he did it beautifully. It was in keeping with his personality. Consequently, in the Latin American countries--I remember particularly, of course, Nicaragua--it was the custom that the President of the Republic receive the chiefs of diplomatic missions and their office staff on New Year's Day or whenever the President of the Republic wanted to receive. Mr. Lane insisted that all of us officers go with him to make that call on the President. It was a formal affair, of course, a matter of ceremony. But it was something that I always enjoyed doing because I could take a look at the whole diplomatic corps and see my- friends. You always get some ideas from seeing another person operate in the presence of a group. Well, the year I am now speaking about in Bogotá, the President had his reception and Mr. Lane tapped us all on the shoulder and said, "You be here in striped trousers, morning coat, and top hat, and we'll go call on the President at his reception at the Palace"--I forget now where

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WARREN: it was held--"at the hour stated." We were there. This was during the war. We were prosecuting the war. And when we showed up, we looked like an army there were so many of us. All the officers, everyone who had the rank of an officer was there. As we were filing in, approaching the President, Mr. Lane heard another ambassador remark, "Look at that! My God! That's not a diplomatic delegation. That's an invasion!" [Laughter] We went on up. Mr. Lane never again took all of his staff to call on the President. The next time, it was cut down to size. That made a great impression on him and on me.

There were a lot of cocktail parties in Bogotá and the hors d'oeuvres, the canapés were always good. A favorite of mine were little Irish potatoes about the size of . . . a little larger than a ten-cent piece in circumference. They had some way of dipping them so they were coated in salt, and they were delicious. So I always enjoyed going. One day I got an invitation from Frank Smith, head of the National City Bank of New York in Bogotá. Wilhelmina and I went to his party, dinner party, cocktail party, or both. We got there. It was dark, of course. When we arrived, I learned that the guest of honor was young Bacardi of the firm that

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makes the rum used in concocting daiquiris. It was and is a famous Cuban family. I was prepared to use my Spanish. I found a handsome Cuban boy acting exactly like an American and speaking like an American. I had pleasure in talking with him, joking around, enjoying the cocktails. Finally I said to him. "Señor, si usted no puede entender me Español, yo to siento mucho porque to aprendí en Havana, Cuba." He looked me right in the eye and said, "Mr. Warren, if you can't understand my English, I'm sorry. I learned it in Hightstown New Jersey." [Laughter] After that I stuck to English. I told you about the visit to the Andes, didn't I, when the woman . . . we went up over the . . .

PARHAM: Yes.

WARREN: Yes. I got that out of order somehow. I don't know how I did it, but any rate . . . .

PARHAM: Tell me, what are the duties of a counselor of embassy?

WARREN: He's second in command. He's next to the ambassador or the minister. He takes charge. Is the political counselor.

PARHAM: Then it's only a rank and not necessarily an advisory [position]? The word "counselor" usually carries a different connotation.

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WARREN: Yes. Well, in fact, he is, of course, the ambassador's or the minister's closest adviser because he is a ranking adviser and normally he is the man who has had the most experience in the Service. Now it may be done differently because there are posts where they do not have counselors. In such cases, the deputy chief of mission takes charge. It will be somebody of lesser rank than a counselor. But if there were a counselor there, the counselor would normally take charge.

PARHAM: A counselor ranks above a first secretary?

WARREN: Yes, he does. The rank is: third secretary, second secretary, first secretary, counselor, ambassador. And the deputy chief of mission--he may be a counselor or he could be a second secretary or a third secretary-assumes charge when the ambassador or minister is not there.

I want to tell you one other little incident because I think these little incidents perhaps give you more idea of what life is like than my trying to tell it in cold English.

PARHAM: Please do.

WARREN: The altitude in Bogotá did not agree with me at all. It's almost nine thousand feet. After I had been there a while, Mr. Berle, back in Washington, learned that I was ill. When

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Mr. Lane had gone to Washington on leave or on orders, he came back and told me, "I've talked to Mr. Berle, and he said that you are going to be transferred out of here because of your health." Well, that pleased me. I had already been flown once to Gorgas Hospital in Panama for medical care. That was what caused me to get transferred from Bogota in January, 1944. I'd arrived in--if I remember rightly--in August of 1942 and I left Bogotá January 1, 1944.

But before telling you this story about what happened a little later, I want to relate that there is a cable car that goes from the city of Bogotá up to the top of mountains back of the city. I don't know how high the mountain is but it must be fifteen hundred feet or more above the city. Anyway it's a long way up there, and I didn't want to go in the cable car because of the altitude. I didn't want to go for any reason. I was talking to a Bogotánio one day. Looking at the cable, I asked, "How about this cable? How often do you change the thing?" It looked old to me. The man said to me, "Oh, we've got a new one here. We're going to put it on just as soon as the old one breaks." I never went up to the top of the mountain. I stayed

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in Bogotá.

PARHAM: [Laughing] That was good thinking on his part and on your part.

WARREN: When I left Bogota', Wilhelmina and I had never been to the Andean section of Colombia, around Cartago, Cali, and Medellin. So we decided to go there and then from there, down to Barranquilla where we were catching a plane back to the United States. Barranquilla was my old post where I had served as consul.

Well, we got over into the Andes and it was a wonderful trip. We went up to Popayan, Pasto--where we could almost reach out and touch Ecuador--and we enjoyed it very much. We wanted to go from Cartago to Medellin. So I went down three days ahead and got transportation, knowing the train would be crowded. I got our tickets. We got up around three-thirty in the morning, or something like that, in order to reach the station in Cartago to catch the train and to be sure to get a seat. We got down to the station in a little while. It must not have been over fifteen minute after four or something like that, and I think the train left at four-thirty. The train was full to the gunnels. The trainmaster, a small Colombian to whom I was talking,

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an official of the railway, said, "Señor, I can get you and Mrs. Warren on board, but I can't take your baggage." I had a world of baggage and I had it with me. I said, "No, sir, I don't travel without my baggage going with me." I had traveled too much not to know that I should not leave without it. He said, "I can't take it." Well, we had a real knock-down and drag-out . . . .

PARHAM: Verbally, you mean.

WARREN: Verbally, yes. No, I wouldn't have put my hand on him. Finally I said to him, "Señor, I have just spent a tour of duty in the American Embassy in Bogotá. I'm on the way now back to the Department of State for further duty. I came to Cartago because I wanted to see your country and know as much about it as I could. I haven't had the opportunity during my stay in Bogotá." Then I added, "If this is the way you treat a tourist, I don't think I'll be coming back." The little Colombian looked me right in the eye and he said, "Señor, I think we can get along without you!" He lowered the boom! But I got my baggage on board the train! I think that ought to be [included].

PARHAM: It sounds like he was trying to help one Yankee go home.

WARREN: That's right. [Laughter] Well, Wilhelmina

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and I proceeded to Barranquilla and spent some time there with our friend, Mrs. Baker, who had lived there many years. She and her husband had been living there when we had been in the consulate. We enjoyed that visit and then we went on to Washington.

When I arrived back in Washington, I was again given my job as executive assistant to Mr. Berle and returned to work on the Departmental matters just as if I had never been away. Well, Mr. Berle must have been working on my appointment as ambassador because in, I guess it was April--you have the dates--of 1945, I was appointed ambassador to Nicaragua.

PARHAM: I have here, "March 21, 1945: Ambassador to Nicaragua."

WARREN: I'll change that. March 21, 1945. The suggestion was sent over to the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in due time it came back approved. Then it had to be sent to the Senate for confirmation in due order. My friends in the Department said, "Fletch, if you want to go down home to see your father, you had better go before the nomination is confirmed because the moment it is confirmed and you take your oath, you must proceed to your post. You can't go home after you've taken your oath of office." So I came down to Wolfe City to see my dad and I remember one afternoon-it seemed to me around four o'clock in the afternoon—

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we were sitting there. My father and I were talking and someone rushed in and said, "The President is dead!" I went up town and it looked like the father and mother of every person in town had died. That was the effect it had on the people of Wolfe City. It affected us, my father and me, of course, but I stayed on a day or two longer and then I went back, took the train, yes, took the train and went back to Washington.

When I got back, I walked into the office, Mr. Berle's offices, and said, "I'm ready to take my oath to go to Nicaragua." Well, he said, "Yes, Fletch, that's right, you're ready; but you haven't any appointment. The man who appointed you is dead. We'll give you something else to do and we'll see what can be done about it." As I know now--I learned later--the suggestion was sent back to Mr. [Harry S. ] Truman who had become President, and he okayed it and returned it in short order. Then I took my oath of office, got ready and, as I remember now, Wilhelmina and I arrived in Nicaragua, on May 4, 19--, . . .

PARHAM: It says, "Ambassador to Nicaragua, 1945."

WARREN: . . . 1945. I accepted the appointment and I arrived in Managua on May 4, 1945. Now so far as I know--and I have never seen anything that would lead me to believe otherwise--I was the last ambassador appointed by Mr. Roosevelt

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and the first one appointed by Mr. . . . . . . .

PARHAM: Truman?

WARREN: . . . Truman. A few days before my departure, Mr. Truman received four or five, maybe six ambassadors who were going out to the field. He received us all at one time. I've never heard of that being done before and I don't know that that has been done since. What was especially pleasing to me was that my old friend and ex-chief, Arthur Bliss Lane, was there. He was going out as ambassador to Poland. We saw the President at Blair House. [Ambassador] Joseph C. Grew was also there. The others I don't now remember after all these years. Of course, it's all a matter of record somewhere as to who was there. That's when I first met Truman as President. I had met him before when I went to dinner one night at Adolf Berle's home, and Senator and Mrs. Truman were there. Senator Truman, and Mr. Berle and I, as I remember, were the men present and we had a very pleasant conversation. That was the beginning of my association with President Truman.

I think that takes care of the Department and gets me from Bogotá to Managua.

As I remember, Wilhelmina and I left Washington in the evening by train for New Orleans where we took a plane that took us over the Gulf to Guatemala, to Managua.

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Our plane arrived at Managua in the morning, as I remember, of May 4. My recollection is that my good friend, Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa, met me at the plane. At any rate, by that time General Somoza of the National Guard had become President Somoza. He was President of Nicaragua. I received, we received--because Wilhelmina received as much of it as I did--we received a warm welcome. It was like, in a way, coming home. General Somoza later told me, in telling me of the preparations, "I stationed a soldier with arms under every palm tree between the American Embassy and the Presidential Palace when you came down to present your credentials."

I did present my credentials to him and then I was under way on my first tour of duty as an ambassador of the United States. If I were doing it over again today, I could not choose a better spot than Managua to learn about diplomacy, particularly as it is practiced in Latin America. We had a new embassy and it took a lot of work to get it straightened out and functioning. I mean new in the sense of a new building. I had a good staff to help me. So it was pleasant to get under way there.

The war was still going strong. I can remember flying across from New Orleans to Guatemala and wondering what the

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chances were that something might happen. Nothing had happened in the Gulf [of Mexico] of any importance, but you do think about such things when you are up there and know that an enemy could take a potshot at you if he wished to. I should note that Nicaragua was cooperating fully with the United States in the prosecution of the war.

I found many old friends in the government. Nearly all of them were in higher positions than when I left in 1936. I found others that were out of office altogether. I also found that the Somoza family was still the most important family in Nicaragua. I also found that the Debayle family, which was connected with the Sacasa and Somoza families, to be a very important influence in Nicaragua. I found a man whom I had known as an attorney in Nicaragua during my first Managua assignment was high in the estimate of the administration. He became Minister for Foreign Affairs. He had been an attorney for the Standard Fruit Company [first identified as Cuyamel], a company that operated from Bluefields, up the east coast of Honduras to New Orleans.

PARHAM: How would you spell that?

WARREN: Cuyamel?

PARHAM:: Yes.

WARREN: C-U-Y-A-M-E-L. Cuyamel. Then, of course, there were the

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He was Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs, and he sent some pretty strong messages

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which I conveyed directly to President Somoza in the very sense in which they were sent to me. I will always remember Anastasio Somoza because he was man enough to take it and he was man enough to live with it in his governing the Republic of Nicaragua. He was the most fascinating chief executive that I have ever known and I include in those the Americans as well as [Alfredo] Zayas and [Gerardo] Machado of Cuba; Olaya Herrera of Colombia; Alfredo Stroessner, S-T-R-O-E-S-S-N-E-R, of Paraguay; [Higinio] Morinigo also of Paraguay; Natalicio Gonzalez of Paraguay who too was certainly an unusual character; the President of Latvia, Ulmanis; [Regent Nicolas] Horthy of Hungary, whom I didn't know personally but whom I observed and admired; and Celal Bayar, President of Turkey. Somoza was the only man--he was bilingual in English and Spanish-that I have ever known to whom you could tell a joke, any kind of joke, in English and he could turn around and tell it in Spanish and make everybody laugh with him. He was that good. Or someone could tell a joke in Spanish and if English-speaking people were present, he could put it in English without missing the point of the story so they would laugh. Of course, some jokes are just so. You can translate them just like you can a paragraph in a book.
But some jokes, puns particularly, they are most difficult , but Somoza could manage it. I shall always

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remember him for that ability. Another thing. He was a heavy man, but Mrs. Warren has often said that he is just about the lightest man on his feet that she's ever danced with. At any rate, he was a favorite with all the ladies. They all liked him.

To illustrate the personality of the man and his force of character, I'll tell this little story. Just before Mrs. Warren and I left Nicaragua, we invited my sister-in-law, Mrs. F. A. Hoeninghaus from Eagle Lake, Texas, to come down for a visit. She arrived and spent some time with us. Weeks. We were worrying about her--her name was Willie--we were worrying about how Willie was going to take this. She was very straight-laced, very religious. She looked at everything as a person who was born in 1888 would look at things: right was right, wrong was wrong, black was black and white was white. We were just wondering how she was going to take this President of Nicaragua. Well, she came down there. In the first place, my sister-in-law looked something like Mrs. Somoza. Within hours after her arrival in Nicaragua, she was invited, we were all invited, (as were all the foreigners) to something that took place at the Presidential Palace. So she met the President within, I would say, two hours after she got to the embassy. After she had been there a week or ten days, someone was telling about

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something that the President had done or said, and my sister-in-law said, "Well, you know, I can see the way he looks at it." That was just unbelievable that she would come around that quickly, a woman brought up [as she had been]!

PARHAM: He must have been a man of great charm.

WARREN: He was a man of great charm, great charm. He could tell jokes on himself, or on his people, or on his government. He enjoyed being with Americans. He enjoyed telling how his wife henpecked him. Of course, no Latin American wife ever henpecked a Latin American, but he liked to tell it because he knew that the Anglo-Americans talk a lot about that. He used to tell stories about them.

I remember one story he told. He had had to go out in the evening on business. That is work he had to do in Managua. After he had done this several nights, his wife became suspicious as any Latin American woman is suspicious about her husband. So he went out one night, came back home later, and went to bed. The next morning when he got up and he looked down at the floor, there was talcum powder that his wife had put across the floor so that she could check if he came in, you know, and went out, and came in and went out. He asked her, "How long have you been doing that?" She [replied], "Oh, I always

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do that. I always use talcum powder to check up on you." [Laughter] I'll tell one story that the President told me. We went to a lot of places with him. I mean other than just strictly official business. For instance, we would go down to his farm at Montemar on the Pacific, or I would go with him on a political trip up to Matagalpa, or we would go on a fishing trip out to sea, or when the mayor of New Orleans, de Lesseps Morrison, carry along, we would go down to the islands in Lake Granada. Thus we had a chance to really come to know him. We came--both Wilhelmina and I--to like him very much. Well, on this one occasion we were together and he said something like this--this is not a quotation but an endeavor to state precisely his meaning--"You know, had fate dealt a different hand to me, I would have been an American citizen." I said, "How's that, Mr. President?" "Well," he said, "I was in Philadelphia and I was in business there selling cars. World War I was on and I was registered for the draft." He said, "If the war had lasted two weeks longer, I would have gotten my draft card and I expected to serve in the American army; and by serving in the American army, I would have become a citizen of the United States.

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Consequently, I probably would never have returned to Nicaragua." I might mention that he married a Debayle daughter of Nicaragua. Rumor has it the family was opposed to the marriage. But she came up to Philadelphia to go to school. He used to meet her--date her-by meeting her under the clock at Wanamaker in Philadelphia. That's what both she and he told us. I might add that as a little personal note.

PARHAM: Did he ever mention his many land and business holdings, or did he ever justify the use of presidential power to gain so much wealth?

WARREN: No, never, never. We might be driving along and he might say, "I own that piece of property there." I don't think that he ever felt that he had to justify.

PARHAM: It was just accepted practice?

WARREN: He was President of the Republic, and it was accepted by most of the Nicaraguans. They might not like it, but being honest with themselves, most of them would have had to admit that if they had been President, they would have done the same thing. That's one factor in it. I'm not justifying. I'm just simply trying to tell you what it was like. But he never . . . . I can't remember that he ever tried, even when I went to see him on official business. I can't remember . . . . He did make this justification--not for personal acquisitions

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or deeds or anything of that sort--for his course. We had discussed democracy, the state of democracy in the United States and the state of democracy in Nicaragua and in Latin America, and he would mention criticisms that were made. We used to talk about the criticisms that were made of him in the press or in conversation, you know, and he in effect stated his reaction this way: "I wish you Americans would realize that you don't feed a young baby without teeth, strong red meat. You may not believe it, but I believe in democracy; but I don't believe the people of Nicaragua have reached the stage where they are ready to go farther than I have taken them up to this point." He added, "As soon as they can stand more, they'll get more, if it's up to me." He said, "They simply are not yet prepared for democracy as you know it in the United States or as it is known in England. And," he said, "that is the principle on which I am acting." I have heard him say that repeatedly. That's the only justification he ever made for the course that he was following. If you were talking to him about something that, say, a particular person had done and gotten in trouble, he'd tell you. He would call the fellow a name and say, "You know what he's done?" Then he would go along and he would tell

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you what the fellow had done that brought on him the punishment or whatever it was that he was receiving. But in the sense that you're thinking about, I can't remember that even once he ever did. Now do you want to ask any other questions?

PARHAM: You mentioned having to be the bearer of some strong messages from Washington. I have tried researching this period and I cannot recall of any crisis or major flap of any type. Do you recall any such situations?

WARREN: I do not even remember what was behind them but I can tell you, just give you one particular incident that has always stuck in my mind, and I think I can tell you who was the desk man in ARA at the time. His name was Robert Newbegin. He's now retired and living in Washington in the wintertime, and in the summertime he goes to his place at Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

PARHAM: What is the "ARA"?

WARREN: The American Republics Division.

PARHAM: In the State Department?

WARREN: Yes. You know, you get a paper, and if I wanted to send it from FC to [American Republics Division], I'd put "AR" or "ARA" there. You see, every division has initials. You'll get a sheet of paper and it will have many initials on it. It's gone to that many offices. AR or

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ARA as I . . . . I don't now know what the A was for, but AR .

PARHAM: He was Newbegin?

WARREN: Newbegin. Robert Newbegin. N-E-W-B-E-G-I-N, one word. He is a New Englander of the purist race serene. Spruille Braden was Assistant Secretary [of State for Latin American Affairs] and the Department sent me a telegram which said, "You go tell the President this." Well, the President was out from Managua--I don't remember how far it was; maybe thirty or forty miles--at his farm where he was building a dam. He was there in shirt sleeves. His sons were helping him, and they had some laborers, and they were building the dam. No engineer there. Somoza was doing the engineering himself. That is the kind of man he was. I remember going over with the telegram. I showed it to him. This message, I don't even remember what it was except that it was strong. When I got through, I let him read just what Washington had told me to tell him so there could be no doubt about its contents. If we could see the telegrams, I think I could tell you which one it was. When I got through, I said, "Mr. President, that means you." I think this is what he then said, "Fletch, I know what you mean," and he laughed. I returned and I cabled Washington I had said that. Word

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got back to me after that, "You can lay off now for a while. " But I told him just what they told me to tell him and I laid it on the line. If you could get that correspondence. [for] the period when I was ambassador, you would find [the message]. The only thing is, you see, . . .

PARHAM: So many of the messages in the Foreign Relations [of the United States] series volumes are paraphrased.

WARREN: That's right. And they don't tell everything. I've got Foreign Relations for the periods I was ambassador. None of those telegrams are there. The things that are there are things like treaties , understandings and papers of that sort.

Let's see. Now we're talking about Somoza, the man, and his ability. He was a leader because he always maintained leadership in the Guardia Nacional. He was also always the head of that body of men. Regardless of whether he was President or whether he was nominally commanding it, he was the head. That was the big thing behind his long career in Nicaragua. I do not mean to say that that was the only thing because I think I have told you enough to indicate that he was a man in every sense of the word. He was his own man; he was a leader of men; he was a wonderful businessman. I've often thought that

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had he stayed in the United States, he could have become president of General Motors without batting an eye. He had what it took. He was a man and he raised a splendid family, his daughter and his two sons. Luis, the man who first became President after his father, was the gentlest, the most, I would say, approachable man in the sense that [he was] one you could talk to and get along with. You wouldn't mind being at a party with him or anywhere else because he was just a decent human being. And so far as I know--that happened after I left-he made a decent President.

Tachito, "little Tacho," the one who later was President looked like his father. He was educated at West Point and he didn't graduate at the foot of his class. He was well up. When he came back, he looked like a West Pointer, but he soon took on a lot of weight. He was a successor to his father and, in my opinion, very much like his father. He married an American girl born in Florida. She was of Latin American descent, her father being a doctor, I believe, on the West Coast of Florida. So his wife, I understand, still has her American passport, the wife of Tachito Somoza, former President of Nicaragua.

Somoza, the father, did a real job of governing

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Nicaragua. He was the governor in the regal sense of the word. He governed. He had a lot of opposition. Of course, he was accused of everything in the book, and perhaps he was guilty of some of it. But he was never as black as he was painted. He was always--and I loved him for this--a friend of the United States until the day that he was shot. Those years in Philadelphia made him as pro-American as a Nicaraguan President could be.

It was a very good service I had in Managua and after that, I felt that I was ready to take on any mission in Latin America. The next one I took I would have rated in the same category as Nicaragua: Paraguay. I was so upset by the fact that I got Paraguay that I telephoned the Latin American Division in the Department and said, "Look here, you've recommended me for appointment to Paraguay." I said, "Is that a demotion?" I think that if they had told me it was a demotion, I would have quit right then because I had worked hard. I had done my best. The answer: "It certainly is not a demotion. You go there and you'll find it is a very interesting and a very important post." I didn't know it then, but the next step was Venezuela which was a Class I embassy. I did not know what was ahead but I had Nicaragua, then Paraguay, thirdly Venezuela, and finally Turkey, also a Class I post.

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PARHAM: Now you served just one month over two years in Nicaragua . . . ?

WARREN: That's right.

PARHAM: What is it that determines, from the Department of State's standpoint, the term or the tour of an ambassador at a given post?

WARREN: Yes. It works something like this: let's say I am ambassador in Nicaragua. Maybe there is a political appointee that wants Nicaragua, and the Department, to satisfy the President, wants to send whoever it is that wants to come to Nicaragua. Then the Department has to transfer Warren. That's another way of saying that the need arises for the post where the man is. Then if he is a good man, they decide next, "Where can we put him?" They look at the man and say, "Where is he prepared to serve?" If he is good in Latin America, and there is another vacancy in Latin America, why, they transfer him to that vacancy. For instance, I will tell you this story to illustrate what I mean but I would not want it published until after my death--this little story-because the man I am telling about is one of my best friends.

Extracted portion; not to be inserted herein nor used publicly or privately until after the demise of Ambassador Warren. Then it can be appended as Pages 106-A, 106-B, 106-C.

[107]

PARHAM: Well, all told, it seems that your first ambassadorship was one in which you gained more experience, but yet it was a very pleasant assignment and one that was not ridden by crisis and great problems.

WARREN: No. You're quite right.

PARHAM: A fortunate assignment.

WARREN: I think I said earlier that if I could do it over again, I would pick Managua as my first assignment. It was a delightful assignment because we had been there before, and as you saw in the statement the Department sent to President Roosevelt--you saw the thing they sent to President Roosevelt, didn't you?

PARHAM: Yes.

WARREN: It said that I was something of a hero down there because of that rescue of the people on a golf course. [Appended as Attachment No. 3.] Well, it made it just as pleasant as it could be. The Nicaraguans liked me and they knew I liked the Nicaraguans. I couldn't have improved on it and that was enough.

PARHAM: Just before we close out, let me ask you one question which we did not cover last week. This business of your becoming a hero. was it something on the spur of the moment that you decided to do, to rescue those people or . . . .

WARREN: I'll make it just as short as I can. It was Sunday morning

[108]

and as I learned when I was vice consul in Havana, I always went to the office on Sunday morning to look at the cables, to check the mail, to do anything else that might come up. I was down at the chancery this morning in question. Wilhelmina was out riding with a Colonel Griffith. They had gone out to the lake and the revolution started. Here [pointing to a diagram]
was the Presidential Hill. Here was the military camp—they called it Campo del Mane--and here to the north was the American Legation, all in a line. [Diagram appears as Attachment No. 4.] The shooting, I believe, started. It doesn't matter if it started one place or another, but I believe it actually started here from the soldiers at Campo del Marie. They began firing on the Presidential Hill and then the Presidential Hill and the bullets began coming over and falling into our . . . . we called it a patio. You might call it a court or courtyard. We had rooms built around an open square, you see. The bullets started falling in the patio. Our minister, Boaz Long had also come to the office. The firing kept going on. Finally a lady called--I don't want to overemphasize this thing--on the telephone, Mrs. L. Jackman, and said, "My husband, " who was the British head of All-America Cables in Managua, "and Carl Lyerle and [Sam J.] Calvert are out playing golf, and I'm worried about them." And right here was the

[109]

golf course [pointing to the diagram]. "Is there anything you can do about it?" I thought about my two American citizens . . . . [See copy of newspaper article concerning this incident, Appended as Attachment No. 5.]

This concludes Interviews IV,V, and VI with Ambassador Fletcher Warren. They will become a part of the Oral History Program at East Texas State University. The interviewer is Dr. Byron A Parham.

[Top of the Page | Notices and Restrictions | Interview Transcript | List of Subjects Discussed
| Additional Warren Oral History Transcripts]

Achilles, Ambassador Theodore, 17, 78
Alcoa Company, 61
All-America Cables, 108
Allende, President Salvador, 49, 50
Aluminum Corporation of America, 71
America, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 35, 36, 39, 40, 45, 47, 48, 49, 52, 59, 61, 68, 69,

• • 73, 84, 88, 92, 94, 95, 97, 98, 100, 104, 105, 108, 109
• Andes, 84, 87
  Anecdotes,
  • "A Reader's Digest Clipping," 27-28
    "An Invasion or a Reception," 82-83
    "Dollars for Pengo;" 23-25
    "Five-Until-Six," 15
    "Henpecked Latin Americans," 97-98
    "Our Milky Way to Moscow," 41
    "Riding the Cable Car," 86-87
    "Speaking Spanish," 83-84
    "The Lindberghs Come to Barranquilla," 9-10
    "The Misplaced Corruna," 54-55
    "The Undiplomatic Diplomatic Dinner," 62-65
    "Yankee Go Home, " 87-88
  Anglo-Americans, 97
  Amazon River, 81
  American Republics Division [ARA] See Department of State
  Atlantic Ocean, 81
  Avianca Airlines, 4

  Bacardi Family of Cuba, 83
  Baker, Hubert W., 4, 5
  Baker, Mrs, Hubert W., 4, 89
  Bayar, President Cela1, 95
  Bean, Peter, 2
  Bela Kun Revolution, 25
  Benson, Barry T., 80
  Berle, Adolf A., [Assistant Secretary of State and ambassador to various posts], 57, 77, 79, 81, 85, 86, 89, 90, 91
  Big Boy, [family dog], 40, 42, 54, 63, 64, 65, 66
  Blair House, 91
  Braden, Spruille, [Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs and ambassador to various posts], 31, 94,

  • 102
  Bruce, Ambassador David K. E., 8

  Caffrey, Ambassador Jefferson, 3, 4
  Calvert, Sam J., 108
  Campo del Marte, Managua, Nicaragua, 108
  Caribbean, l, 2, 13
  Carlson, Vice Consul Herbert W. , 2, 16, 17, 18
  Central America, 29
  Chica Pelon, Managua, Nicaragua, 34, 35, 39
  Chinese, 7, 8
  Cities, Texas

  • Dallas, l3
    Eagle Lake, 96
    Fort Worth, l3
    Greenville , 81
    Houston, l3
    Ladonia, 80, 81
    San Antonio, 40
    Sulphur Springs, 80, 81
    Wolfe City, 14, 80, 89, 90
  Cities, United States
  • Ann Arbor, Michigan, 29
    Big Sur, California, 26
    Boston, Massachusetts, 22
    Boise City, Oklahoma, 23, 24
    Chicago, Illinois, 5, 11
    Denver, Colorado, 67
    Detroit, Michigan, 29
    Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 7
    Hightstown, New Jersey, 84
    Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 101
    Key West, Florida, 8
    Lafayette, Louisiana, 3
    Leo, Indiana, 5
    Los Angeles, California, 36
    New Orleans, Louisiana, 91, 92, 93, 98
    New. York City, New York, 36, 40, 42, 66, 71, 83
    Oyster Bay, New York, 26
    Palo Alto, California, 4
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 98, 99, 105
    Saint Louis, Missouri, 27
    Tombstone, Arizona, 4
    Washington, D. C., 7, 8, 17, 23, 24, 25, 29, 37, 40, 45, 46, 47, 55, 56, 57, 58, 63, 66, 74, 76, 77, 78, 81,
    • 85, 86, 89, 90, 91, 101, 102
    West Branch, Iowa, 62
  Cities, World,
  • Algiers, Algeria, 77
    Ankara, Turkey, 29, 46, 76
    Antwerp, Belgium, 56, 73
    Barranquilla, Columbia, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12-13, 14, 15, 18, 22, 78, 87, 89
    • conditions in, 2
    Berlin, Germany, 17, 31, 40, 41, 42, 56, 60
    Bluefields, Nicaragua, 93
    Bogota', Colombia, 4, 15, 57, 79, 80, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91
    Bremen, Germany, 40
    Budapest, Hungary, 17, 18-19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 56, 76, 78
    Cali, Colombia, 87
    Caracas, Venezuela, 61
    Cartago, Colombia, 87, 88
    Cherbourg, France, 18
    Cluj, Rumania, 25
    Corinto, Nicaragua, 35
    Florence, Italy, 39
    Fort Erie, Canada, 73
    Hamburg, Germany, 40, 42, 66
    Havana, Cuba, 8, 9, 84, 108
    Kaunas, Lithuania, 58
    Kobe, Japan, 54, 55, 56, 65, 68
    Leticia, Colombia, 81
    Lima, Peru, 17
    London, England, 17, 29, 34
    Managua, Nicaragua, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 47, 51, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97, 102, 105, 107, 108
    Manaos, [also Manaus], Brazi1, 81
    Matagapa, Nicaragua, 98
    Medellin, Colombia, 87
    Mexico City, Mexico, 9
    Moscow, Russia, 41, 53, 55, 57, 58, 65, 66, 68, 69, 72, 74
    Paris, France, 9
    Pasto, Colombia, 87
    Popayan, Colombia, 87
    Puerto Colombia, Colombia, 11
    Riga, Latvia, 40, 42, 43, 51, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 68, 74
    • visit of President Herbert Hoover to, 60-62
    Rome, Italy, 3
    Shanghai, China, 68
    Sochi, Russia, 43
    Tallinn, Estonia, 58, 60, 61, 70
    Tokyo, Japan, 17
    Vienna, Austria, 22, 57, 73
    Vladivostok, Russia, 54
  Coast Guard, 77-78
  Coleman, Walter H. A., 78
  Communism, 25, 49, 56
  Consular Service. See Department of State
  Continental National Bank of Chicago, 5, 11
  Countries,
  • Argentina, 31, 57
    Austria, 21, 31
    Brazil, 81
    Canada, 73
    Chile, 49
    China, 27, 68
    Colombia, 1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 15, 16, 81, 87, 88
    • attitude toward U.S. and Panama Cana1, 15-16
    Cuba, 9, 22, 84, 95
    Dominican Republic, 80
    Ecuador, 81, 87
    England, 3, 68, 69, 100, 108
    Estonia, 40, 61, 68, 70
    • Russian domination of, 70
    France, 18, 52
    Germany, 4, 5, 40, 41, 44, 51, 52, 56, 61, 62, 68, 70, 71
    Greece , 2
    Guatemala, 91, 92
    Haiti, 80
    Honduras, 93
    Hungary, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 95
    • attempted Russian subversion, 25-26
      World War I peace settlement, 21-23
    Italy, 39, 77
    Jamaica, 3
    Japan, 54, 65, 66, 67, 68
    • treatment of American diplomats during World War II, 66-68
    Latvia, 40, 50, 51, 52, 53, 57, 68, 69, 70, 95
    • annexation by Russia, 68-71
      developing democracy in, 51-52
      U. S. listening post, 50, 53, 57
    Lithuania, 18, 40, 52, 68, 70
    • Russian domination of, 70
    Mexico, 31, 35, 78
    Nicaragua, 19, 29, 32, 36, 37, 39, 40, 47, 82, 89, 90, 92, 93, 95, 96, 99, 100, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107
    • democracy in, 100-101
      revolution in, 35-37
    Panama, 9, 86
    Paraguay, 95, 105
    People's Republic of China, 8
    Peru, 78, 81
    Philippines, 27, 67, 68
    Poland, 52, 91
    Rumania, 21, 25
    Sweden, 67
    Turkey, 10, 63, 77, 95, 105
    Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 25, 50, 52, 53, 54, 58, 59, 65, 68, 69, 70
    • Iron Curtain, 56, 58
      purges in, 59-60
      Siberia, 65, 70
    United States, l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40, 60, 62, 67, 87, 92, 93, 94, 98,
    • 100, 104, 105
    Venezuela, 61, 105
  Crane, Senator Winthrop Murray, 77
  Crane, Winthrop Murray, "Win," 77
  Credit Anstalt, 21
  Cummings, Herbert J., 77

  Davies, Ambassador Joseph, [also minister to various posts], 41, 42
  Davis, Consul General Nathanial P., [also ambassador to various posts], 68
  Dawes Bank, 5, 11
  Dawson, Second Secretary Allen, 33
  Debayle Family of Nicaragua, 37, 93, 99
  Department of Commerce, 28, 30, 76, 77, 80

  • elimination of Foreign Service, 28-29, 30
  Department of State, 29, 30, 41, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76, 79, 80, 88, 89, 91, 94, 101, 102, 105,
  • • 106, 107
  • American Republics Division [ARA], 101
    Consular Bureau, 56
    Consular Service, 20 See Foreign Service, differences in, rivalry between and unification of
    Diplomatic Service, 20 See Foreign Service, differences in, rivalry between and unification of
    Division of Foreign Activity Correlation, 17, 29, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79
    Division of Protocol, 29
    Latin American Division, 31, 105
    Personnel Division, 30
  Dodd, Ambassador William E., 56
  Dune, William E., [Counselor of Embassy for Economic Affairs], 80

  Educational Institutions

  Purdue University,
  • 6
    United States Military Academy, [West Point], 104
    University of Chicago, 44, 56
    University of Pittsburgh, 77
    University of Texas, 17, 80
    University of Wisconsin, 49, 50
  English language, 52, 84, 85, 95
  Europe, 5, 21, 41, 43, 51, 54, 56, 74

  Foreign Relations of the United States, 103
  Foreign Service, 1, 2, 3, 14, 17, 18, 19, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 45, 57, 73, 78, 80, 85

  • administrative chain of command, 43-45, 84-85
    differences in, 38
    diplomatic appointments, 89-91, 106
    diplomatic and consular services, 20
    formation of Division of Foreign Activities Correlation, 74-79
    personnel in, 76-79
    procedures and policies, 10-12, 16-18, 21-25, 44-50, 54, 85-86, 94, 101-103
    rivalry between, 20-21
    security, 78-79
    unification of, 20
  Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 16

  General Motors Corporation, 104
  Gonzalez, President Natalicio, 95
  Cordon, Ambassador George, [also minister to various posts], 79
  Gorgas Hospital, 86
  Grew, Ambassador Joseph C., 91
  Gripsholm, 67
  Gulf of Mexico, 91, 93
  Gurley, Louis, 66-67, 68

  Henderson, Loy Wesley, [Assistant Secretary of State, "Mr. Foreign Service," also minister and ambassador to

  various posts],
  • 57, 58
  Herrera, President Enrique Olaya, l5, 95
  • "Five-Until-Six," 15
    pro-American, 15
  Hoeninghaus, Mrs. F.A., [Willie], 96
  Hollopeter, Samuel W., 5, 6-7, 10
  Hoover, President Herbert C., 26, 27, 60, 61, 62
  • library, 62
  Horthy, Regent Nicolas, 95
   

  Indians, 10
  International Telephone and Telegraph, 18, 78

  Jackman, Mrs. L., 108
  Jewish, 29

  Kirk, Ambassador Alexander, 66

  Lake Granada, 98
  Lane, Ambassador Arthur Bliss, [also minister to various posts), 33, 39, 40, 43, 51, 52, 54, 58, 61, 62, 63, 66, 79,

  • 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 91
  Lane, Mrs. Arthur Bliss, 39, 43
  Latin America, 4, 5, 6, 14, 17, 31, 35, 40, 43, 80, 82, 92, 97, 100, 104, 105, 106
  • American business interests in, 4-6
    democracy in, 100
    German business interests in, 5
  League of Nations, 22
  Lindbergh, Charles Augustus, 9, 10
  Lindbergh, Mrs. Charles Augustus, [Anne], 9, 10
  Lodge, Sr., Senator Henry Cabot, 77
  Long, Minister Boaz, 108
  Lyerle, Car1, 108
  Lyon, Frederick B., [Chief, Division of Foreign Activity Correlation], 26, 29, 76-77, 79
  Lyon, Mrs. Frederick, [Beth], 29

  Machado, President Gerardo, 95
  Magdalena River, 9, 11, 13
  Magnuson, Senator Warren, 18
  Manifest Destiny, 16
  Messersmith, George S., [Assistant Secretary of State, also minister and ambassador to various posts], 30, 31, 55,

  • 56, 57, 66, 72, 73, 74, 75
  Miles, General Nelson, 75, 76
  • estimate of military preparedness for WWII, 76
  Montemar, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, 11
  Montgomery, Minister John F., 27, 28
  Morinigo, President Higinio, 95
  Morrison, Mayor de Lesseps, 98
  Morrow, Ambassador Dwight, 9
  Munters, V., [Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs], 68-69

  National City Bank of New York in Bogotá , 83
  Nazi, 31
  Neal, Vice-Consul Jack Davis, 16, 17, 18, 49, 78
  Newbegin, Ambassador Robert, 101, 102
  New York Times, 45

  Office of Naval Intelligence [ONT], 74, 75
  Osborne, Consul General John Ball, 19

  Pacific Ocean, 98
  Packer, Charged' affaires Earl L., 53-54, 55, 61, 62, 63, 64
  Packer, Mrs. Earl L., [Iris], 62, 63, 64, 65
  Panama Canal, 15, 16, 86
  Pan American Airways, 8, 9
  Polutnik, E. V., 78
  Presidential Hill, Managua, Nicaragua, 108

  Reader's Digest, 28
  Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 26, 28, 29, 74, 89, 90, 107
  Roosevelt, Mrs. Franklin D.,[Eleanor], 26
  Roosevelt, Minister Nicholas, 26, 27
  Roper, Secretary of Commerce Dan, 28
  Rosenwald, Julius, 56
  Rotary Club, 6

  Sacasa Family of Nicaragua, 93
  Sacasa, President Juan B., 35, 36, 39

  • expulsion from Nicaragua, 35
  Sacasa, Mrs. Juan B., 39
  Scadta Airlines, 4
  Schenley Company, 29
  Senate, [U.S.], 89
  Sevilla-Sacasa, Ambassador Guillermo, [dean of the Diplomatic Corps in U.S.], 37, 39, 92
  Sevilla-Sacasa, Mrs. Guillermo, [Lillian Somoza], 37
  Smith Frank, 83
  Somoza Family of Nicaragua, 93
  Somoza, President Anastasio, 35, 36, 37, 39, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104-105
  Somoza, Mrs. Anastasio, [Salvadora], 36, 37, 39, 96
  Somoza, President Anastasio, [Tachito], 37, 104
  Somoza, President Luis, 37, 104
  South America, 4, 9, 29
  Spanish, 6, 34, 63, 84, 95
  Standard Fruit Company [Cuyamel], 93
  States, U.S.
  • Arizona, 4
    California, 4, 26, 27
    Florida, 7, 8, 104
    Indiana, 5, 6
    Iowa, 61
    Louisiana, 3
    Maryland, 63
    Massachusetts, 77
    Missouri, 27, 29
    Nebraska, 52
    New Hampshire, 101
    New Jersey, 27
    New York, 27, 29, 33, 36
    North Carolina, 4
    Oklahoma, 23
    Pennsylvania, 27
    South Carolina, 28
    Texas, 13, 18, 40, 52, 80, 81
    Virginia, 81
    Washington, 18
  Stewart, Consul General James B., [also ambassador to various posts], 19, 27, 31, 56, 57
  Straus, Oscar, 77
  Stroessner, President Alfredo, 95

  Tattar, Albert, 61, 70

  • escaped from Estonia, 70-71
  Taylor, Consul Paul, 46
  Titsworth, Lem, 14
  Trans-Siberian Railroad, 54, 55
  Transylvania, Rumania, 21, 25
  Trippe, Juan B., 8, 9, 10
  Trippe, Mrs. Juan, 9, 10
  Truman, President Harry S., 90, 91
  Truman, Mrs. Harry, [Bess], 91
  Tyler, Royal, 22

  Ulmanis, President Karl, 51, 52, 68, 69, 95

  • forced exile during WWII, 68-69
  United States Army, 74, 75, 77, 98
  United States Lines, 24, 40, 87
  United States Navy, 45, 50, 74, 78

  Wannamaker, 99
  Warren, Inspector Avra M., [also minister and ambassador to various posts], 63, 64
  Warren, Ambassador Fletcher

  • as ambassador to Nicaragua, 90-109
    • rescue of foreigners, 107-109
  • in Barranquilla, Colombia,
    • bribe offered, 10-12
      as consul, l-17
      as unofficial Chinese consul, 7-8
  • in Budapest, Hungary, as consul, 17-31
    as counselor of embassy in Bogota, 79-89
    in Division of Foreign Activities Correlation, 29, 75-76, 78, 79
    as executive assistant to Adolf A. Berle, 89-90
    as executive assistant to George S. Messersmith, 72-79
    in Managua, Nicaragua,
    • protecting Americans, 47
      as second secretary, 32-40
      turning point in career, 32-40
  • in Riga, Latvia, 40-71
    • promotion to counselor of embassy, 57
      promotion to first secretary, 57
      as second secretary, 40-57
  Warren, Mrs. Fletcher, [Wilhelmina], 1, 14, 17, 18, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 51, 54, 57, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 80,
  • 83, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 96, 98, 108
  White House, 74
  Williamson, David, 20, 27-28
  World War I, 2, 21, 25, 51, 98
  World War II, 17, 72-73, 76, 92

  Zayas, President Alfredo, 95