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

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its foreign policy goals. Robert W. Adams, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, believed that Lister’s discussions with visiting student groups were effective in shaping their perceptions of the U.S. “I am convinced that these discussions…can be extremely important in establishing a frame of reference within which the students’ further experiences in the United States will be perceived and interpreted,” Adams wrote in a memo on January 22, 1965. 47 Indeed, many Latin American visitors raved about their encounters with Lister, and much of this praise was filtered back to the Department via the Embassies. “I have never seen so many spontaneous tributes to an individual in any particular field,” wrote Lister’s performance evaluator in 1966. 48 Latin Americans attending a Lister presentation found him frank, yet able to portray the U.S. in a positive light. “Your exposition gave me that uplifting so necessary after so much dish-wash talk,” wrote Arnoldo G. Borrego, a law student attending George Washington University, in March 1968. 49 A student next to Borrego said aloud “‘God, we are getting ahead again’” and Borrego wrote “I had the very same feeling.” 50 Dialogue with Chilean Socialists Besides trying to improve the State Department’s performance in achieving U.S. objectives in all Latin American countries, Lister devoted extra attention to the situation in certain countries. Lister was particularly drawn to the case of Chile, a country with a strong Socialist party which he believed could be influenced to move 39
away from the Communists, much as had happened in Italy. Nevertheless, during the 1960s and early 1970s, Lister had little success in convincing U.S. policymakers to pursue this course. Lister’s involvement in Chilean affairs began as early as January 1963, when he prepared his first memorandum advocating ways in which the U.S. might begin attracting the Chilean Socialists away from the Communists. 51 His memorandum was sent on to Santiago, but Ambassador Charles W. Cole concluded that the Chilean Socialist Party was too radical to be influenced and that any such attempts would be futile. 52 Lister persisted. On September 4, 1963, commenting on the State Department’s most recent comprehensive policy statement on Chile, Lister wrote that he feared that “we may be leaning too heavily on those political combinations which sound and/or are the most reliably anti-Communist.” 53 The State Department might “be seriously underestimating” the chances of splitting the Socialists from the Communists, he wrote. 54 In 1964, Chileans elected Eduardo Frei, a centrist leader from the Christian Democratic Party, as President. In an effort to forestall rising Socialist influence in Chile, the U.S. government showered the Frei government with foreign aid—a total of $1.2 billion between 1962 and 1970. 55 Following Frei’s election, Lister again called for the “development and maintenance of an effective and extensive political ‘dialogue’ with Chileans” with the goal of influencing Chilean Socialists to enter squarely within the democratic fold. 56 Lister’s policy suggestions again went 40
Page 1 and 2: Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007
Page 3 and 4: Impacting Foreign Policy as a Mid-L
Page 5 and 6: Impacting Foreign Policy as a Mid-L
Page 7 and 8: Chile..............................
Page 9 and 10: contributions to U.S. foreign polic
Page 11 and 12: etween personalities and more as a
Page 13 and 14: duties but not jeopardize his caree
Page 15 and 16: 21 Morton H. Halperin and Patricia
Page 17 and 18: younger sister. As Lister’s long-
Page 19 and 20: as an ideological battle that the U
Page 21 and 22: February 1955, Lister received a le
Page 23 and 24: wanted to bring the entire Socialis
Page 25 and 26: Schlesinger soon began working toge
Page 27 and 28: espects Saragat more than vice-vers
Page 29 and 30: Socialist Party that this office ha
Page 31 and 32: First, his contacts with Italian So
Page 33 and 34: eceptive to the Italian Socialists
Page 35 and 36: 64 George Lister, “Political Less
Page 37 and 38: As he frequently did though, Lister
Page 39 and 40: Impact in the Bureau of Inter-Ameri
Page 41 and 42: leaders,” Lister wrote in 1971. 1
Page 43 and 44: Latin Americans to watch out for [t
Page 45: Lister’s facility with explaining
Page 49 and 50: Domingo as part of an inter-departm
Page 51 and 52: the crisis was “interesting and i
Page 53 and 54: War effort. Besides his propaganda
Page 55 and 56: Affairs to ask that the U.S. press
Page 57 and 58: win the ideological battle against
Page 59 and 60: 31 Ibid. 32 Memo, George Lister to
Page 61 and 62: 104 Ibid. 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 107 C
Page 63 and 64: ights suddenly became a major U.S.
Page 65 and 66: international human rights experts
Page 67 and 68: Rights, Carter reiterated that U.S.
Page 69 and 70: Reagan’s human rights policy was,
Page 71 and 72: When, as a result of the hearings,
Page 73 and 74: Human rights were rhetorically usef
Page 75 and 76: substantial,” Shlaudeman said.
Page 77 and 78: a reporter as “Mr. Human Rights.
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
Page 87 and 88: democratic opposition leaders. List
Page 89 and 90: greater attention to human rights v
Page 91 and 92: occurred. Lister’s own toughness
Page 93 and 94: ability to update the State Departm
Page 95 and 96: a wide open society, essentially de
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wing regimes, you had to be against
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convinced that clear, reliable info
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he had reduced mistrust, Lister hel
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49 Telephone interview by Gregory K
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117 Ibid., p. 13. 118 Report, Georg
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Chapter 5. Human Rights Case Studie
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The Carter administration had campa
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the Sandinista government became in
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the Sandinistas, but he did not cha
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of the 1980s. Lister’s relationsh
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opinion of the text. Lister suggest
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Lister wrote to Assistant Secretary
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that the USG is pro-Pinochet, you a
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concern about Chile, the Reagan adm
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violations by the Pinochet governme
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luncheons with the Chilean Congress
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how Lister managed to have such a l
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62 Letter, Kim Dae Jung to George L
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129 Library of Congress, Authoritar
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movement—in particular, by insist
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Lister’s other political base was
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State Department as well as human r
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open a political conversation with
Page 143 and 144:
Archival Documents Bibliography Abr
Page 145 and 146:
Lister, George. Memo to Mr. William
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Lister, George. Memo to ARA Office
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Lister, George. Memo to Elliott Abr
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U.S. State Department. Career Histo
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Library of Congress, Chile: The Con
Page 155 and 156:
Shlaudeman, Harry. Former Assistant
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Memorial Service for George Lister.
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