Cold War Diplomacy

Before the Bureau

George Lister's anti-Communist credentials were solid and were connected to his diplomatic strategies during the Cold War. Lister began his career at the State Department in 1941, the same year the U.S. entered World War II and long before the institutionalization of human rights in U.S. foreign policy. Lister joined the State Department before both the formation of the United Nations (1945) and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

Lister's training and field experience were focused on fighting the Cold War and the Soviet threat, not on human rights. In 1945, after four years of serving as a relatively low-level bureaucrat in Colombia, Lister was selected for the Foreign Service. His first assignments were in Eastern Europe, where he became schooled in Russian, Polish, Soviet area studies, and Cold War diplomacy.

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Selected Documents:

• "How Soviet Careers Are Made or What Makes Ivan Run" by George Lister June 20, 1953 (6 pages, NOTE: Title page, Table of Contents, Introduction and Conclusion only) Copyright: University of Massachusetts Press

• Correspondence from W. Averell Harriman to Tyler Thompson, Director General of the Foreign Service, Department of State Feb 1, 1962 on Lister's good work in Russia and Italy (2 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Unknown November 12, 1965 on State Department's tactics in Latin America and internal politics within the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs (4 pages)

• Correspondence from William Bradford to Lister Aug 9, 1966 on Taping Session for Washington Tapes (1 page) and Lister's paper "Communism in Latin America" (17 pages)

• Correspondence from Samuel Myers to Joseph Silberstein Sept 28, 1966 on "Comments on George Lister's Paper, 'Communism in Latin America'" (3 pages)

• "¿Una politica anticomunista estéril?" by George Lister 1966 (8 pages) NOTE: Spanish translation of "United States Foreign Policy: Sterile Anti-Communism")

• "United States Foreign Policy: Sterile Anti-Communism?" by George Lister 1966 (14 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to W. Averell Harriman May 31, 1967 on building political support for the Vietnam War (3 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Covey T. Oliver September 14, 1967 on "Status Report on Some Policies and Tactics" (16 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Covey T. Oliver, November 24, 1967 on proposing a public statement in favor of constitutional government and against military golpes in Latin America (3 pages)

• "American Foreign Policy Lecture" by George Lister Feb 1, 1968 (37 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Samuel Lewis, March 5, 1969 on the "central issues" in U.S. policy towards Latin America (16 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Samuel Lewis, March 17, 1969 with suggested changes on NSSM-15 "U.S. Policy and Political Development in Latin America" (5 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to John H. Crimmins, June 12, 1969 on political implications of Nelson Rockefeller's visit to Brazil (2 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to John Hugh Crimmins Feb 6, 1970 on ''CICOP and Frank Church'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to John H. Crimmins, October 1, 1970 on Lister's visit to the International Police Academy (3 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Jack B. Kubisch, September 10, 1973 on "Our Latin American Labor Policy" (2 pages)

Cold War Diplomacy before the Bureau

William D. Rogers on the human rights issues of the 1960s and 70s
William D. Rogers Transcript (pdf)

Richard Schifter on the beginnings of the human rights movement
Richard Schifter Transcript (pdf)

John Shattuck on the Alliance for Progress
John Shattuck Transcript (pdf)

Diane La Voy on the institutionalization of human rights
Diane La Voy Transcript (pdf)