William H. Sullivan

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William H. Sullivan
United States Ambassador to Laos
In office
December 23, 1964 – March 18, 1969
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Preceded byLeonard S. Unger
Succeeded byG. McMurtrie Godley
Personal details
Born
William Healy Sullivan

(1922-10-12)October 12, 1922
Washington, D. C., U.S.
Alma materBrown University
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Navy
Battles/warsWorld War II

William Healy Sullivan (October 12, 1922 – October 11, 2013) was an American

ambassador to Laos from 1964 to 1969, the Philippines from 1973 to 1977, and Iran from 1977 to 1979.[1]

Early life and career

Sullivan was born in

D-Day invasion of Normandy and the invasion of Okinawa. He had the senior watch on the Hambleton when it entered Yokohama harbor for the Japanese surrender.[3]

After obtaining a joint graduate degree from

Calcutta, India, Tokyo, Japan, Naples and Rome, Italy, and The Hague, Netherlands.[citation needed
]

His habit of speaking his mind with force and candor grated on more than one superior, and for years he languished in the lower grades. Then, in the Kennedy administration, he was assigned to the office of W. Averell Harriman, the Assistant Secretary for the Far East. Harriman, no admirer of blandness, immediately recognized his abilities.[4]

Sullivan served as Harriman's deputy at Geneva negotiations about the future of

U.S. Embassy in Saigon.[6]

His nephew is former

United States Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan
.

Ambassador to Laos

In 1964, Sullivan began his tenure as Ambassador to Laos.[7] Pursuant to an order by President John F. Kennedy, all U.S. military operations in Laos were under the direct supervision of the Ambassador.[8] As Ambassador to Laos during Project 404, and he also personally directed the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail. This civilian control and the restriction on military operations rankled the military.[1]

He was also involved in

Dien Bien Phu in North Vietnam with Phou Pha Thi and Nam Bac in Laos.[11] Realizing the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) would try to destroy the installation, Secord advised the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane to evacuate all U.S. personnel. However, high-ranking U.S. officials insisted that Lima Site 85 should operate as long as possible, as it helped save the lives of U.S. pilots every day it remained operational.[9]

After he left Laos, Sullivan returned to Washington to coordinate the U.S. participation in the

Paris Peace Talks.[12] Thereafter, he was appointed Ambassador to the Philippines. South Vietnam fell while he was in the Philippines, and Sullivan orchestrated the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people through that nation. He was able to convince President Marcos to permit the fleeing South Vietnamese navy to land, despite a demand from the new Communist Vietnamese government for its return, by arguing that the ships were in fact U.S. property after the fall of the South Vietnamese government, as a result of the terms of their sale to that state.[13]

Ambassador to Iran

See also: Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini

Sullivan next served as Ambassador to Iran, arriving just before President Jimmy Carter's visit to the Iran in December 1977. In the 1970s, America had extremely close military and economic links with Iran.

As demonstrations increased in scale, Sullivan came into conflict with

Shah of Iran and Iranian Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar. Although Brzezinski got his way, the demonstrators prevailed. On November 9, 1978, Sullivan cabled Washington that it might be necessary to consider policy options if the military proved unable to assure the shah's continuance in power and the shah should depart from Iran.[14] This telegram, titled Thinking the Unthinkable, highlighted a major shift in support of the shah's position in Iran. Previous information had suggested that the shah would be able to make it through the demonstrations and last at least another decade.[15] In the telegram, Sullivan comments on how total support for the shah has become increasingly unlikely and that options not considered relevant to the Carter administration may had to be taken in order to preserve the United States' interests in the region.[16] The telegram would make its way to Jimmy Carter, who in response concluded that Sullivan may not be capable of saving the shah's regime and considered firing him.[17] In January 1979, the White House instructed Sullivan to inform the shah that the U.S. government felt he should leave the country.[18]

On February 1, 1979, the exiled Khomeini returned to Tehran. Days later, with Tehran in revolution and all organs of state essentially nonexistent, Under Secretary of State

White House Situation Room
with a question for Sullivan: "The National Security Advisor (Brzezinski) has asked for your view of the possibility of a coup d'état by the Iranian military to take over from the Bakhtiar government, which is clearly faltering."

Sullivan allegedly replied, "Tell Brzezinski to fuck off."

"That's not a very helpful comment," Newsom noted.

"You want it translated into Polish?" Sullivan hung up.[19]

On February 14, 1979, the

Iran Hostage Crisis by nine months, became sarcastically known as the "St. Valentine's Day Open House" owing to the date on which it occurred.[21]

Sullivan wrote in his autobiography: "I had recommended that we accept the fact that a revolution was in progress and seek to use our not inconsiderable influence to steer its success toward its more moderate protagonists." This view, however, was not shared by Washington, and Sullivan was recalled in March 1979. Shortly after, on April 1, 1979, Iran officially became an

Islamic Republic
.

After Sullivan left Iran, the Embassy drew down to a skeleton staff, under the direction of Chargé d'Affaires Bruce Laingen, who later became one of 52 Americans held hostage by militant Iranian students.

He headed the American Assembly at

Dwight Eisenhower before he was elected President, from 1979 to 1986. In 1981, Sullivan published Mission to Iran, a memoir of his time as ambassador. His autobiography, Obbligato: Notes on a Foreign Service Career, was published in 1984.[22]

Later career

He later served on the boards of the Lincoln Center, the International Center, and the U.S.–Vietnam Trade Council.

In 1988 he received an overture to begin steps towards U.S.–

Nguyen Co Thach
, who had become Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Sullivan first traveled back to Vietnam in May 1989 to meet with Minister Thach, founded the U.S.–Vietnam Trade Council, and from then continued to work on steps towards the normalization.

Following retirement, he lived a quiet life in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and later, Washington, D.C.

Sullivan died on October 11, 2013, one day before his 91st birthday.[1] He is survived by four children and six grandchildren.

References

  1. ^ a b c William Branigin (2011-02-22). "William H. Sullivan dies at 90; veteran diplomat oversaw 'secret war' in Laos". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  2. ^ Obbligato: Notes on a Foreign Service Career, William H. Sullivan. W.W. Norton & Co. Inc. New York, 1984, p. 21
  3. ^ Obbligato, pp. 73 -76.
  4. ^ Stewart Alsop (1968), The Center: People and Power in Political Washington, 1968 reprint, New York: Popular Library, Ch. 5, "The Sad State of State", p. 101.
  5. ^ Obliggato, pp.162-172.
  6. ^ Obbligato, pp. 197- 208
  7. ^ Obbligato, p. 228.
  8. ^ Thecrimson.com/article/1971/2/23/air-war-in-laos
  9. ^ a b Hamilton-Merritt, p. 178
  10. ^ Secord, Wurts, pp. 75–77
  11. ^ Chauhan, p. 23
  12. ^ "Interview with William H. (William Healy) Sullivan, 1981 - WGBH Open Vault". Openvault.wgbh.org. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  13. ISBN 9780870210396
  14. ^ Mission to Iran, pp. 203-204.
  15. ^ "Why The United States Was Caught Off Guard On Iran". Yale Journal of International Affairs. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  16. ^ "U.S. Embassy Tehran, William Sullivan, Cable to State Department, "Thinking the Unthinkable," Secret, November 9, 1978 | National Security Archive". nsarchive.gwu.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  17. JSTOR j.ctv136c5c7
    .
  18. ^ Mission to Iran, pp. 227–230.
  19. ISBN 0-451-14505-4
    .
  20. ^ "US Embassy stormed by Tehran mob". 1970-1979 Guardian Century. The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  21. ^ Mission to Iran, pp. 257 – 268. See also, pbs.org/egbh/frontline supra.
  22. ISBN 0-393-01809-1
    .

External links
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Laos

1964–1969 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to the Philippines

1973–1977 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Iran

1977–1979 		Succeeded by
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