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

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His activities on behalf of human rights were multifaceted. From the 1970s through the end of career, Lister did his best to educate and influence top policymakers on human rights issues. One specific task of Lister’s as a human rights officer during the 1970s, to oversee the creation of human rights reports, would leave a clear, lasting legacy. But Lister took his job beyond State Department walls, maintaining regular contact with Members of Congress, dissidents, and U.S. human rights activists. Lister, who was divorced in 1970, dedicated himself around the clock to human rights, Eubank said. 56 He would begin his day by reading the newspapers, usually clipping out some items on human rights. 57 In The Washington Times, he would check for any relevant Congressional hearings. 58 He would then walk from his Dupont Circle apartment to the State Department, where he would usually begin by reading reports from the Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 59 His day would be filled with memorandums and office work, but also meetings with State Department visitors, press briefings, and Congressional hearings. 60 Evenings and on the weekends he would regularly attend human rights movement events. 61 Lister’s success at influencing foreign policymaking depended on the administration. Harry Shlaudeman, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs at the end of the Ford administration, did not remember Lister as being particularly effective. “I don’t remember him ever doing anything 67
substantial,” Shlaudeman said. “Just a lot of gossip about the [human rights] movement. I don’t know really what he was trying to do.” 62 Lister probably had more impact during the Carter administration, when human rights concerns were given more weight. Brandon H. Grove, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs in the Carter administration, remembers Lister as someone who effectively promoted the need for the bureau to take human rights into account. “He had a lot of influence in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs and not everybody wanted to hear it,” Grove said. “In that sense he was quite a hero.” 63 Lister, who as a boy had been introduced to “Uncle Joe” Cannon, expanded his influence through his contacts with Congress, Grove said. Some State Department officials were concerned that if they appeared too resistant to human rights that Lister would notify his friends on Capitol Hill. “That was a device of his own making that pinned the State Department down a bit,” Grove said. 64 “So people were careful about trying to look responsive to what he, George, was [saying].” Lister’s relationships with the Congress also equipped him to give advice to State Department officials on relations with Congress; a memo from July 1977 to Terence Todman, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, shows Lister giving advice about how to address Congressional concerns regarding Carter’s policy towards Nicaragua. 65 Lister did some of the most valuable work of his career during the 1980s under Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and 68
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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
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
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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
Page 49 and 50: Domingo as part of an inter-departm
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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
Page 61 and 62: 104 Ibid. 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 107 C
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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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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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