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

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Chapter 4. Building a Human Rights Policy The term “human rights” was not one that Lister would frequently have heard during the first 32 years of his State Department career. In his job at the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, Lister emphasized democracy, telling his audiences that the U.S. government “has a clear, positive pro-democratic ideology.” 1 During the 1950s and 1960s, the idea of giving “human rights” an emphasis in U.S. foreign policy was, according to historian Lars Schoultz, considered utopian. 2 Human rights also connoted a concern with how governments treated individuals within their borders. Professional diplomats, however, have been traditionally “guided by the idea that what a country does to its own citizens is not in any way something that another country should engage in,” noted John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1993 to 1998. 3 The stirrings of the human rights issue were nonetheless evident from the very beginning of Lister’s career. The U.S., in fact, had been involved in the creation of some of the foundational human rights documents. In July 1941, as Lister was beginning work at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Roosevelt and Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of democratic principles that they hoped would guide nations after WWII. In 1948, during Lister’s tour of duty in Poland, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document which had been drafted under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt. In the 1970s, when human 55
ights suddenly became a major U.S. foreign policy concern, Lister was already nearing retirement age. The human rights issue emerged just in time to open up a new chapter in his career, a chapter in which he would make a greater impact than at any previous time. Between 1973 and 2002, Lister would devote his career almost entirely to human rights issues. Many of his contributions were made over the course of one or two decades, and for this reason I have chosen to address the period as a whole. The following discussion begins with background on the development of human rights in U.S. foreign policy and on George Lister’s human rights career. The remainder of the chapter looks at Lister’s role in institutionalizing human rights in the State Department and his impact on the human rights movement. In Chapter 5, I examine Lister’s contribution to human rights and democracy in several countries. Finally, Chapter 6 will offer some theories as to why Lister was successful at human rights work and what lessons can be drawn from Lister’s example. Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy Emergence of the Issue Several factors converged in the early 1970s to make human rights issues a larger factor in U.S. foreign policy. In many Latin American countries, including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, military dictatorships were replacing democratically-elected governments. 4 Freedom of speech in these countries was 56
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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
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
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Page 41 and 42: leaders,” Lister wrote in 1971. 1
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Page 47 and 48: away from the Communists, much as h
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Page 53 and 54: War effort. Besides his propaganda
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Page 57 and 58: win the ideological battle against
Page 59 and 60: 31 Ibid. 32 Memo, George Lister to
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Page 79 and 80: encourage improvement. As if to und
Page 81 and 82: Lister won plaudits from Patricia D
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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
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Archival Documents Bibliography Abr
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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
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Shlaudeman, Harry. Former Assistant
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Memorial Service for George Lister.
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Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

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