Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

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policymakers including Rep. Don Fraser, Senator Ted Kennedy, the State Department’s refugee staff, and Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs William D. Rogers. At the suggestion of the refugee staff, Lister arranged another meeting with Edward Loughran, the top staffer to Louisiana Senator James Eastland, and the “most active opponent” of the idea of an asylum program. 80 Loughran initially was incredulous, asking why the U.S. should accept “people who have been put in jail by their own government.” 81 However, with Lister’s help, by the end of the meeting, Poblete convinced Loughran to soften his position. 82 In the early 1980s, contact between the Chilean democratic opposition and the State Department had become rare. 83 The U.S. Ambassador in Chile, James D. Theberge, preferred to maintain smooth relations with Pinochet. 84 Many members of the opposition, assuming the U.S. government and especially the Reagan administration was pro-Pinochet at its heart, were skeptical about trying to influence U.S. government policies. 85 Lister took the initiative to persuade members of the opposition to renew a dialogue through the human rights bureau. One of the first opposition leaders Lister tried to convince was Sergio Bitar. 86 Early in Abrams’ tenure, Lister met with Bitar for lunch to urge him to more actively try to influence U.S. government policy in an anti-Pinochet direction. 87 As described in Chapter 4, Lister convinced Bitar to make his case to the State Department and the Congress. “By sitting around complaining 113
that the USG is pro-Pinochet, you are helping to keep him in power,” he reported telling Bitar. 88 “Your lack of dialogue with the USG is mutually harmful.” 89 Eventually, dialogue with the Chilean democratic opposition flourished. The human rights bureau regularly met with Chilean exiles living in Washington, D.C. as well as visiting Chileans. Lister, according to Abrams, became a “close friend” of Eugenio Velasco, the unofficial representative of the democratic opposition in the U.S. 90 Opposition leader Edmundo Vargas remembers that Chilean dissidents coming to Washington would sometimes ask him how they could speak with the U.S. State Department. Vargas would respond, “I have a very important friend there, George Lister!” Vargas would then contact Lister, who would always assent to the request. Soon the dialogue dominated the bureau’s schedule. 91 Lister later recalled that on one occasion, he went into Abrams’ office to remind him about four Chileans visiting the following morning. 92 When Abrams groaned, Lister thanked him for “spending more time on Chile than on any other country in the world.” 93 According to Lister, Abrams “put both hands on his head and responded: ‘For God’s sake, George, I’m spending more time on Chile than on all the rest of the world combined.’” 94 Pinochet, Lister believed, reinforced his rule by fanning the impression that he had support from the Reagan administration. 95 According to Vargas, the discussions that Lister facilitated were important because they “allowed us to say we have some contact with the State Department.” 96 Another function of the dialogues was to help build consensus between the different political factions in the Chilean opposition, 114
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Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007
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Impacting Foreign Policy as a Mid-L
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Impacting Foreign Policy as a Mid-L
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Chile..............................
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contributions to U.S. foreign polic
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etween personalities and more as a
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duties but not jeopardize his caree
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21 Morton H. Halperin and Patricia
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younger sister. As Lister’s long-
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as an ideological battle that the U
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February 1955, Lister received a le
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wanted to bring the entire Socialis
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Schlesinger soon began working toge
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espects Saragat more than vice-vers
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Socialist Party that this office ha
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First, his contacts with Italian So
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eceptive to the Italian Socialists
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64 George Lister, “Political Less
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As he frequently did though, Lister
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Impact in the Bureau of Inter-Ameri
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leaders,” Lister wrote in 1971. 1
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Latin Americans to watch out for [t
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Lister’s facility with explaining
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away from the Communists, much as h
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Domingo as part of an inter-departm
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the crisis was “interesting and i
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War effort. Besides his propaganda
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Affairs to ask that the U.S. press
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win the ideological battle against
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31 Ibid. 32 Memo, George Lister to
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104 Ibid. 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 107 C
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ights suddenly became a major U.S.
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international human rights experts
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Rights, Carter reiterated that U.S.
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Page 75 and 76: substantial,” Shlaudeman said.
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Page 79 and 80: encourage improvement. As if to und
Page 81 and 82: Lister won plaudits from Patricia D
Page 83 and 84: ut the hearings were the starting p
Page 85 and 86: moment. The bureau had already been
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Page 89 and 90: greater attention to human rights v
Page 91 and 92: occurred. Lister’s own toughness
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Page 115 and 116: of the 1980s. Lister’s relationsh
Page 117 and 118: opinion of the text. Lister suggest
Page 119: Lister wrote to Assistant Secretary
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Page 125 and 126: violations by the Pinochet governme
Page 127 and 128: luncheons with the Chilean Congress
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Page 131 and 132: 62 Letter, Kim Dae Jung to George L
Page 133 and 134: 129 Library of Congress, Authoritar
Page 135 and 136: movement—in particular, by insist
Page 137 and 138: Lister’s other political base was
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Page 141 and 142: open a political conversation with
Page 143 and 144: Archival Documents Bibliography Abr
Page 145 and 146: Lister, George. Memo to Mr. William
Page 147 and 148: Lister, George. Memo to ARA Office
Page 149 and 150: Lister, George. Memo to Elliott Abr
Page 151 and 152: U.S. State Department. Career Histo
Page 153 and 154: Library of Congress, Chile: The Con
Page 155 and 156: Shlaudeman, Harry. Former Assistant
Page 157 and 158: Memorial Service for George Lister.
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Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

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