Re: Project Truth, by Charles Z. Wick, Intl. Communication A
Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 9:53 pm
Letter From James R. Huntley to Anne W. Coulter
25 June 1982
Battelle
Seminars and Studies Program
4000 N.E. 41st Street
P.O. Box C-5395
Seattle, Washington 98105
Telephone (206) 525-3130
25 June 1982
Ms. Anne W. Coulter
Program Director
The American Political Foundation
PO Box 37034
Washington, DC 20013
Dear Anne:
What a very pleasant surprise to get your letter and all the enclosures! The materials fill in a number of gaps for me, and I thank you. I read the President's speech in the New York Times, but I had not seen all the editorial coverage you forwarded. I have also talked with various friends in Washington about this and I am sure, as the British say, "You are on a good wicket." I am glad that you are staying on with the APF, as I know they will need you.
I thought I might pass on some comments which you might like to share with George Agree. Indeed, I might have sent them to him, except that you wrote first and also I imagine he is head-over-heels with things to do at the moment. So, for either or both of you, here are my thoughts about the study on which you are embarking.
1. It is not entirely clear, from your proposals or from the President's speech, where the emphasis will be put with respect to various kinds of countries. I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure on you to pay particular attention to the Soviet Bloc, but that is precisely the area where it is most difficult to see what can be done. I'm not a specialist on that part of the world, so I will have to leave that to others. (Ray Gastil will have some valuable ideas in this regard.) But I guess what I'm really trying to say is this: If the envisaged effort, which I shall call "Project Democracy" for the sake of an easy handle, concentrates mainly on dictatorships, whether authoritarian or totalitarian, and makes a sort of frontal attack on these most difficult cases, I think you are going to stir up an awful lot of hornets' nets and make less progress than people would like. The alternative would be to defer the hardest cases, or at least give them a more long-term timetable, and concentrate on countries which are (a) marginal cases, i.e., those in which some of the forces of democracy are already at work, but perhaps tenuously or fitfully; and (b) countries which have an extremely important place strategically in the future world scheme of things. I am sending with this letter a copy of a chart which I prepared for a Battelle study called "World Politics in the 1980s." It attempts to classify countries both geographically and according to "type." The type classification has to do with stages of development, political as well as economic. I have omitted from this chart countries whose future I do not consider to be of terribly great import, in a political or strategic sense. I do not suggest that you omit them from consideration, but I do suggest that a higher priority should be given to countries on the chart than to those which are not. I have circled a few countries which I think stand out as deserving of the highest priority. Egypt would be one example -- a place which certainly is not very democratic, but which is in a kind of transition stage; also a place which is of absolute strategic importance, for many reasons. I would give Egypt a lot higher priority than I would (for example) Saudi Arabia, because I think there is a better chance of doing something constructive in Egypt than in Saudi Arabia. That of course is a matter of judgment; maybe what I mean to say is that Saudi Arabia needs a long term approach, whereas I think one could do a lot in Egypt because the culture is more receptive at this stage to democratic ideas. Concentrate on the exchange students for Saudi Arabia, and also on training civil servants, but bring the Egyptians who are already in strategic positions to the United States and to other democratic countries for short tours to find out how democracies are run. And help them set up their own institutes for democracy, if they are so inclined, etc. By this same token, I would put more emphasis on Brazil than on Argentina.
2. I would pay special attention to countries outside the NATO-OECD group in which democracy already has something of a good start -- such as Venezuela, Costa Rica, Barbados, Papua-New Guinea, India, Colombia, Peru, etc.
3. Do not neglect the "nouveau democratique" nations within the Western Alliance, such as Spain, Portugal, Greece or Turkey. They would, I think, be of strategic value with respect to their former colonies and with respect (in the case of Turkey) to other Moslem countries.
4. Neither the President nor your proposals mention bringing the other Western countries (including Japan) into this effort; I think that it is of the utmost importance to work cooperatively with political parties and non-governmental forces in any or all of the NATO-OECD group, wherever a good deal stands to be gained from such cooperation. I know it is more cumbersome and difficult, but if this program turns out to be just an American one, it will turn out to be much more suspect and (I think) much less effective than if you have a number of participating groups from various countries in on the planning as well as the execution of whatever programs you're engaged in. The case which you make so well for the German political foundations having paved the way is an eloquent argument for, at times, letting them and other similar groups in other countries do the job instead of involving the US directly.
5. Your proposal often mentions the word "bipartisan" and I heartily subscribe to that, but I think you ought also to use the adjective "non-partisan" at times, because there are many people (including myself) who are not strongly attached to either party, who nevertheless have strong convictions and a few ideas about how to do the job in which you are engaged. Many foundations are good examples of such institutions; they can help a lot but they would not consider themselves partisan in any sense.
6. I think in the study you are now undertaking you could get some good ideas from a careful examination of American experience in promoting democracy, after 1945, in Germany and Japan. I realize that the circumstances were vastly different than in party of the world today, and that many of the same carrots and sticks which we employed during a military occupation would not be at all appropriate. Nevertheless, having played a part in the American efforts to re-educate and reorient the Germans in 1952 to 1955, both at a national level (from Frankfurt) and out in small towns and provinces, I can testify that many of the things which we did were entirely persuasive in character, and that the Germans were eager to learn and to be partners with us in re-establishing the political base in that benighted country. I think the same thing can be said of many features of the occupation in Japan, and I think it would help you a lot to pull together a little advisory group of people who had experience in both countries, at the time.
7. There are three other countries where I think American experience would be especially relevant: Nigeria, Iran, and Egypt. I don't know much about any of the three cases, but I believe that foreign service officers and others who know about them could be readily found to identify what we failed to do, or did wrong. This could be an extremely productive enterprise in connection with "Project Democracy."
8. Following are a few suggestions for people and organizations who I think could be of special help to you:
J. Allan Hovey, now with the General Accounting Office and on the Board of the Atlantic Council of the US. Back in the 1950s he was the Secretary in Europe for the American Committee for a United Europe and has a great deal of knowledge about how these kinds of things can be done.
R.D. Gastil, Freedom House. You've met Ray and I think George Agree knows him well. I probably don't have to tell you that he [is] one of the world's experts on democracy and political modernization. He also is a member of The Committee for a Community of Democracies, DC. We would like to help you in any way that we can. Among the members of the Committee with a good deal of relevant experience to what you're doing, I suggest that Ray Gastil and the Committee Secretary Bob Foulon are the principal people to discuss this with. We are quite prepared to set up a working group to help you, if we can. (One example of our membership: Richard Van Wagenen, who held an important post in the occupation of Germany and the re-education efforts there, later with World Bank, wrote a seminal book on cooperation among the democracies, Political Community in the North Atlantic Area.)
Tim Greve, editor of the Oslo evening paper, Verdensgang, former Secretary of the Nobel Committee, and once private secretary to Halvard Lange. He could be a key person in getting all relevant groups in Norway into the program.
J.D. Livingston Booth, retired head of Charities Aid Foundation in the UK, founder and chairman of the International Standing Conference on Philanthropy. His knowledge of foundation law and activity in Europe and other parts of the world (including Latin America) is unparalleled. If you want to know about charitable instrumentalities, and about non-profit activity generally, this is the man. Address: Cedar House, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6JD, England.
The Liberal International in London. As you know, the "liberals" in most other parts of the world are actually pretty conservative, and generally favor free enterprise, but also civil liberties, etc. Urs Schoegttli is the international secretary general with offices at One Whitehall Place, London SW1. I know that he has a deep interest in the general aims of "Project Democracy". He is young and Swiss and very active.
I myself. I have no current plans for a trip back East, with one tentatively in the autumn. If you need me sooner, the APF or somebody else would have to pay my fare and expenses, but I would be willing to come for a few days if necessary. Would be glad to help you if I can in a minor way via the telephone or letters.
I don't have to tell you that what you're doing is extremely important. I am elated that the program is getting off the ground and want you to succeed if there is a human way to insure that!
Cordial good wishes.
James R. Huntley
Battelle Fellow
PS: We hope that you and George will both be members of CCD/DC. [CCD USA, COMMITTEES FOR A COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES - USA, Suite 310, 1725 DeSales Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. (202) 955-5778, James R. Huntley, Founding Chairman] In these few months ahead we don't expect much of you, but it would be good to know that there was a kind of organic relationship. We are holding a "convention" or representatives from the various CCDs (now in Melbourne, Tokyo, Montreal, New York, Washington, London and possible Belgium and Germany) from 5-7 November, and it would be very good to have one of you or another representative of APF present. The concerns of CCD and your project overlap to an important extent; we, as you know, are also very much interested in "community" but we have an equal concern for democracy.
Enclosure: Basic Country Groups and the Key Countries
JRH/mc
25 June 1982
Battelle
Seminars and Studies Program
4000 N.E. 41st Street
P.O. Box C-5395
Seattle, Washington 98105
Telephone (206) 525-3130
25 June 1982
Ms. Anne W. Coulter
Program Director
The American Political Foundation
PO Box 37034
Washington, DC 20013
Dear Anne:
What a very pleasant surprise to get your letter and all the enclosures! The materials fill in a number of gaps for me, and I thank you. I read the President's speech in the New York Times, but I had not seen all the editorial coverage you forwarded. I have also talked with various friends in Washington about this and I am sure, as the British say, "You are on a good wicket." I am glad that you are staying on with the APF, as I know they will need you.
I thought I might pass on some comments which you might like to share with George Agree. Indeed, I might have sent them to him, except that you wrote first and also I imagine he is head-over-heels with things to do at the moment. So, for either or both of you, here are my thoughts about the study on which you are embarking.
1. It is not entirely clear, from your proposals or from the President's speech, where the emphasis will be put with respect to various kinds of countries. I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure on you to pay particular attention to the Soviet Bloc, but that is precisely the area where it is most difficult to see what can be done. I'm not a specialist on that part of the world, so I will have to leave that to others. (Ray Gastil will have some valuable ideas in this regard.) But I guess what I'm really trying to say is this: If the envisaged effort, which I shall call "Project Democracy" for the sake of an easy handle, concentrates mainly on dictatorships, whether authoritarian or totalitarian, and makes a sort of frontal attack on these most difficult cases, I think you are going to stir up an awful lot of hornets' nets and make less progress than people would like. The alternative would be to defer the hardest cases, or at least give them a more long-term timetable, and concentrate on countries which are (a) marginal cases, i.e., those in which some of the forces of democracy are already at work, but perhaps tenuously or fitfully; and (b) countries which have an extremely important place strategically in the future world scheme of things. I am sending with this letter a copy of a chart which I prepared for a Battelle study called "World Politics in the 1980s." It attempts to classify countries both geographically and according to "type." The type classification has to do with stages of development, political as well as economic. I have omitted from this chart countries whose future I do not consider to be of terribly great import, in a political or strategic sense. I do not suggest that you omit them from consideration, but I do suggest that a higher priority should be given to countries on the chart than to those which are not. I have circled a few countries which I think stand out as deserving of the highest priority. Egypt would be one example -- a place which certainly is not very democratic, but which is in a kind of transition stage; also a place which is of absolute strategic importance, for many reasons. I would give Egypt a lot higher priority than I would (for example) Saudi Arabia, because I think there is a better chance of doing something constructive in Egypt than in Saudi Arabia. That of course is a matter of judgment; maybe what I mean to say is that Saudi Arabia needs a long term approach, whereas I think one could do a lot in Egypt because the culture is more receptive at this stage to democratic ideas. Concentrate on the exchange students for Saudi Arabia, and also on training civil servants, but bring the Egyptians who are already in strategic positions to the United States and to other democratic countries for short tours to find out how democracies are run. And help them set up their own institutes for democracy, if they are so inclined, etc. By this same token, I would put more emphasis on Brazil than on Argentina.
2. I would pay special attention to countries outside the NATO-OECD group in which democracy already has something of a good start -- such as Venezuela, Costa Rica, Barbados, Papua-New Guinea, India, Colombia, Peru, etc.
3. Do not neglect the "nouveau democratique" nations within the Western Alliance, such as Spain, Portugal, Greece or Turkey. They would, I think, be of strategic value with respect to their former colonies and with respect (in the case of Turkey) to other Moslem countries.
4. Neither the President nor your proposals mention bringing the other Western countries (including Japan) into this effort; I think that it is of the utmost importance to work cooperatively with political parties and non-governmental forces in any or all of the NATO-OECD group, wherever a good deal stands to be gained from such cooperation. I know it is more cumbersome and difficult, but if this program turns out to be just an American one, it will turn out to be much more suspect and (I think) much less effective than if you have a number of participating groups from various countries in on the planning as well as the execution of whatever programs you're engaged in. The case which you make so well for the German political foundations having paved the way is an eloquent argument for, at times, letting them and other similar groups in other countries do the job instead of involving the US directly.
5. Your proposal often mentions the word "bipartisan" and I heartily subscribe to that, but I think you ought also to use the adjective "non-partisan" at times, because there are many people (including myself) who are not strongly attached to either party, who nevertheless have strong convictions and a few ideas about how to do the job in which you are engaged. Many foundations are good examples of such institutions; they can help a lot but they would not consider themselves partisan in any sense.
6. I think in the study you are now undertaking you could get some good ideas from a careful examination of American experience in promoting democracy, after 1945, in Germany and Japan. I realize that the circumstances were vastly different than in party of the world today, and that many of the same carrots and sticks which we employed during a military occupation would not be at all appropriate. Nevertheless, having played a part in the American efforts to re-educate and reorient the Germans in 1952 to 1955, both at a national level (from Frankfurt) and out in small towns and provinces, I can testify that many of the things which we did were entirely persuasive in character, and that the Germans were eager to learn and to be partners with us in re-establishing the political base in that benighted country. I think the same thing can be said of many features of the occupation in Japan, and I think it would help you a lot to pull together a little advisory group of people who had experience in both countries, at the time.
7. There are three other countries where I think American experience would be especially relevant: Nigeria, Iran, and Egypt. I don't know much about any of the three cases, but I believe that foreign service officers and others who know about them could be readily found to identify what we failed to do, or did wrong. This could be an extremely productive enterprise in connection with "Project Democracy."
8. Following are a few suggestions for people and organizations who I think could be of special help to you:
J. Allan Hovey, now with the General Accounting Office and on the Board of the Atlantic Council of the US. Back in the 1950s he was the Secretary in Europe for the American Committee for a United Europe and has a great deal of knowledge about how these kinds of things can be done.
R.D. Gastil, Freedom House. You've met Ray and I think George Agree knows him well. I probably don't have to tell you that he [is] one of the world's experts on democracy and political modernization. He also is a member of The Committee for a Community of Democracies, DC. We would like to help you in any way that we can. Among the members of the Committee with a good deal of relevant experience to what you're doing, I suggest that Ray Gastil and the Committee Secretary Bob Foulon are the principal people to discuss this with. We are quite prepared to set up a working group to help you, if we can. (One example of our membership: Richard Van Wagenen, who held an important post in the occupation of Germany and the re-education efforts there, later with World Bank, wrote a seminal book on cooperation among the democracies, Political Community in the North Atlantic Area.)
Tim Greve, editor of the Oslo evening paper, Verdensgang, former Secretary of the Nobel Committee, and once private secretary to Halvard Lange. He could be a key person in getting all relevant groups in Norway into the program.
J.D. Livingston Booth, retired head of Charities Aid Foundation in the UK, founder and chairman of the International Standing Conference on Philanthropy. His knowledge of foundation law and activity in Europe and other parts of the world (including Latin America) is unparalleled. If you want to know about charitable instrumentalities, and about non-profit activity generally, this is the man. Address: Cedar House, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6JD, England.
The Liberal International in London. As you know, the "liberals" in most other parts of the world are actually pretty conservative, and generally favor free enterprise, but also civil liberties, etc. Urs Schoegttli is the international secretary general with offices at One Whitehall Place, London SW1. I know that he has a deep interest in the general aims of "Project Democracy". He is young and Swiss and very active.
I myself. I have no current plans for a trip back East, with one tentatively in the autumn. If you need me sooner, the APF or somebody else would have to pay my fare and expenses, but I would be willing to come for a few days if necessary. Would be glad to help you if I can in a minor way via the telephone or letters.
I don't have to tell you that what you're doing is extremely important. I am elated that the program is getting off the ground and want you to succeed if there is a human way to insure that!
Cordial good wishes.
James R. Huntley
Battelle Fellow
PS: We hope that you and George will both be members of CCD/DC. [CCD USA, COMMITTEES FOR A COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES - USA, Suite 310, 1725 DeSales Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. (202) 955-5778, James R. Huntley, Founding Chairman] In these few months ahead we don't expect much of you, but it would be good to know that there was a kind of organic relationship. We are holding a "convention" or representatives from the various CCDs (now in Melbourne, Tokyo, Montreal, New York, Washington, London and possible Belgium and Germany) from 5-7 November, and it would be very good to have one of you or another representative of APF present. The concerns of CCD and your project overlap to an important extent; we, as you know, are also very much interested in "community" but we have an equal concern for democracy.
Enclosure: Basic Country Groups and the Key Countries
JRH/mc