tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49942293317514082242024-03-05T23:15:45.092-05:00MY BROTHER'S KEEPER - A TEST OF CIVILIZATION - JIM PURCELL BOOKOFFICIAL AUTHOR BLOG - Forthcoming book: MY BROTHER'S KEEPER: Refugees & Migrants-A Test of Civilization
- James N. Purcell,Jr.
(Image: Syrian and European Union flags overlap-Dreamstime photos)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-59467273156150277772016-04-08T15:49:00.001-04:002016-04-08T15:56:02.596-04:00ANGELO STATE UNIVERSITY_JAMES N. PURCELL, JR._"Escaping Syria"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-75729844766367652016-03-12T16:33:00.000-05:002016-04-08T16:31:52.942-04:00BOOK - My Brother's Keeper - Refugees and Migrants - Syria and beyond<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Today, regarding Syria and beyond, human rights and refugee
needs suddenly have not been at the center of foreign policy
decision-making. James N. Purcell, Jr., challenges the wisdom and heart of such a change. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">F</span>rom his earliest years, Jim Purcell's life has connected with people often overlooked. From his parents' lives as Christians serving the poor in Appalachia and migrant workers in Florida, USA, Jim saw needs and the results of caring people reducing suffering. Personal as well as professional influences encouraged and helped him as he set up the U.S. refugee program of the 1980s. <br />
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It is a pleasure to announce this title, <i>My Brother's Keeper</i>, for the book about refugee help around the world that Jim Purcell has worked on during recent years. What began as a personal process to confirm memories of a significant and challenging time grew into a commitment to share, in writing, the record. It shows how civilized people respond to crises affecting "brothers and sisters" around the world - men, women, and children at risk due to persecution and/or war, from Indochina, Somalia, and other places. <br />
<br />
However, today's failures regarding Syrian refugees and beyond show that human rights and refugee
needs suddenly have not been at the center of foreign policy
decision-making. Jim challenges the wisdom and heart of such a change. Even when late in doing so, the world's civilized people have always stood up for the persecuted, the defenseless--"the least of these." <b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>There is no more descriptive phrase about
human rights than "my brother's keeper." The meaning translates in any
language to say that every person has a human connection to every other,
and this connection makes us mindful of our human responsibilities to
each other.</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>My Brother's Keeper - Refugees and Migrants: A Test of Civilization</i><br />
by<br />
James N. Purcell, Jr. </div>
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The publication date will be posted when known. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-40853119584829146642015-09-22T22:47:00.003-04:002016-04-08T17:13:34.596-04:00E-BOOK The Perils of Unresolved Humanitarian Problems - 2002 monograph <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">K</span>indle e-book by Jim Purcell is now online.<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i> </i></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">P</span>reface</i> <i>excerpt</i> below</b>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></b></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015OZ4YJI" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Kindle e-book </i>is <span style="color: red;">here:</span> </span></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>(subtitle)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Focus: The Middle East</span></span></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">James N. Purcell, Jr.<i> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Copyright (c) 2002; 2015 (Sept.)</span></i></span></span><br />
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" (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perils-Unresolved-Humanitarian-Problems-Middle-ebook/dp/B015OZ4YJI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1448046340&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Perils+of+Unresolved+Humanitarian+Problems" target="_blank">See e-book online to <span style="color: #cc0000;">Read</span></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> <span style="color: #0b5394;">inside</span></a>)<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-35914456801587134822015-09-16T12:10:00.004-04:002016-01-30T11:46:39.871-05:00SYRIA - 21st CENTURY'S HUMANITARIAN NIGHTMARE AND NEGLECTED ASYLUM RESOURCES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">REFUGEE DECADE POLICIES DEVELOPED SOLUTIONS THAT ARE UNKNOWN OR FORGOTTEN</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Purcell gave permission for me to write this brief post today. I am responsible for the opinions I express.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the many key protocols of crises--in Southeast Asia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, USSR and South Asia--was <i>safe regional asylum</i> for refugees that made it from points of danger.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">SAFE ASYLUM IN THE REGION</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">News today indicates that there has been no American or international planning for the Syrian refugee crisis. This fact stands in dark, glaring contrast to the enlightened global planning early in the Refugee Decade of the 1980s. Today, refugee help and problem-solving happen in the worst way. Panic, fear, and frustration drive flight and the ad hoc attempts by governments pressured to help. The ad hoc attempts now include punitive or military reaction. Where is evidence of foresight and consideration of unanticipated consequences? The effects of such confusion will rebound for generations. The U.S. could lead, but follows the same European approach--indecision. At home, some congressional leaders are proposing that the U.S. take as many as we can, thinking that when all is better those helped will return home, which would be unlikely. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Such reactions without thought for rational planning completely ignore the first solutions needed: seek to save and protect refugees; then, arrange for safe asylum <i>in their home region</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As photos above and below clearly show, one country in the region, with similar cultural and religious traditions, is Saudi Arabia, ready to provide asylum. The tents are air conditioned and clothing and other support are on stand-by. Many of the tents are being used to house refugees now, from Syria. Why are not regional asylum options being used first? There was no preparation to steer refugees to temporary help close at hand. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What is needed, in my view, is public outcry for revival and adaptation of protocols and methods already proven to work. They were not easy to find or implement; yet, they avoided the mass confusion that continues, five years on, regarding Syrian refugees.</span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ2pyXG2rkFJEQSYmW3cQ0NbiZjzZBTdJRjarCbYZpH8E5G3vEI3rhGjdFN52-CO0HI8uteA1uRmhF2QZO-Cp5gYsos_YtDGQY-ydycyZvzLU53RYR3p7KOJ6Kry5rbhPO0hio0Ki91w/s1600/MILES+OF+TENTS+IN+SAUDI+ARABIA+-+REFUGEES.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ2pyXG2rkFJEQSYmW3cQ0NbiZjzZBTdJRjarCbYZpH8E5G3vEI3rhGjdFN52-CO0HI8uteA1uRmhF2QZO-Cp5gYsos_YtDGQY-ydycyZvzLU53RYR3p7KOJ6Kry5rbhPO0hio0Ki91w/s400/MILES+OF+TENTS+IN+SAUDI+ARABIA+-+REFUGEES.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MILES OF ASYLUM (AIR CONDITIONED) TENTS AWAIT MILLIONS OF REFUGEES - photo Akram S. Abahre</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reaction without rational planning completely ignores the
first solutions once a refugee crisis erupts: seek to protect human life and arrange safe asylum in the home region. For Syrian refugees, this would include preparations made by regional countries like Saudi Arabia. Jordan has been involved in asylum almost since the beginning of this crisis. </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Respectfully,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jean P. Purcell</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The writer is a co-editor for Jim Purcell's book, <b>Hope of the Phoenix: how three presidents saved millions of refugee lives in a conflicted world.</b></i></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-20736996289138955632015-09-05T11:24:00.001-04:002015-11-20T13:36:56.567-05:00Published - Kindle eBook from Jim Purcell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Published - October 2015 </b><br />
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A re-release of Jim Purcell's Furman University speech monograph. His book is another writing, now in book agent hands.<i> </i></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Perils of Unresolved Humanitarian Problems</i></span></h3>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
by Jim Purcell </h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Kindle eBook re-release of 2002 speech. </span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Preface</b> <b>updated to reflect Syria refugee crisis.</b></span></span></span></h2>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-26451635630533637262015-05-27T20:10:00.002-04:002015-09-15T12:08:29.290-04:00Break the Official Silence about Not Doing Enough for Syrian Refugees <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_N._Purcell,_Jr." target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>JAMES N. PURCELL, JR.</b></span> </a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The power of the printed word and photos about Syrian refugees graphically remind me of </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4994229331751408224#editor/target=post;postID=6050386674510499549;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=3;src=postname" target="_blank">"the refugee decade"</a></span></b> in which I was centrally involved. It covered </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the USSR from the mid-1970s into much of the 1980s. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since those times, refugee numbers have grown beyond imagining. In recent years, Washington Post pages </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">have focused on Syria, an on-going producer of refugees. The Post's opinion articles have included impassioned calls for heightened public awareness and international response to the dire and increasing needs of Syrian refugees. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">More than ever, Syrian citizens and their neighbors in the region feel overwhelmed by dangers, needs, and the rising numbers. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a recent (April 19, 2015) opinion column, <b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">Who Cares about Syria</a></b>, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Valerie Amos, then U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, </span></span>reported on "ordinary Syrians who are suffering...bombed out of their homes, tortured, abused and denied food,
water and health care." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ms. Amos championed the cause of Syrian citizens that were promised protection by their government only to be abandoned to an imperiled and uncertain fate. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">She has visited Syrian refugees </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">numerous times in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey, countries where they have received asylum. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"During every visit," she wrote, "I was asked the same thing: Why has the world
abandoned us? Why does nobody care?"</span></span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">These question are directed, wrote Valerie Amos, "at our
leaders, perhaps particularly at the permanent members of the Security
Council," where the U.S. is a member.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One view expressed by Ms. Amos is that "narrow national interests are overriding
broader global responsibilities, despite the efforts of the U.N.
secretary general’s three <span style="color: blue;"><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-chief-instructs-syria-envoy-to-seek-political-end-to-war/2015/04/09/e0169e32-deff-11e4-b6d7-b9bc8acf16f7_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com">special envoys</a>
</b></span> to chart a way out of the crisis."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Syrian government continues to speak about citizen protection while ignoring pleas to "stop targeting civilians and discontinue the use of so-called 'barrel
bombs'," according to Amos's reporting. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The UN cites the fact of the world now feeling overwhelmed by global refugee crises in numbers never experienced before. That's according to Antonio Guterres, the deeply concerned <b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/un-world-faces-largest-refugee-crisis-in-decades-9839339.html" target="_blank">UN High Commissioner for Refugees</a></b>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More than a year before Ms. Amos's commentary in the </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Washington Post, "Unattended Misery: Americans Remain Strikingly Detached from the Humanitarian Crisis in Syria" (December 6, 2013) raised another alarm. Written by revered former U.S. ambassador and foreign service officer, Morton Abramowitz, the article also appeared in West Hawaii Today with the same dateline and headlined <span style="color: blue;"><b><a href="http://westhawaiitoday.com/opinion/columns/syrian-misery-goes-unheeded" target="_blank">Syrian Misery Goes Unheeded</a></b></span>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ambassador Abramowitz wrote that "...our public and government have been complacent in the face of massive human suffering. Recall Rwanda and Cambodia*. More recently the U.S. public has watched passively for well over two years the continuing destruction of a highly developed state: Syria." </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(*Note: Both disasters received public demands for action.)</span></span> In my view, nothing changed over the next year and up to now. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Many nations, including the U.S., face new humanitarian challenges of seemingly impossible proportions. We have risen to such challenges in the past. We have shown that dedicated people in government, foreign service and civilian life can achieve dramatic turnarounds. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In spite of the current difficulties, both </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Morton Abramowitz and Valerie </span></span>Amos have praised the work </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">under very trying circumstances </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">of the humanitarian organizations in Syria and the region. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">an avowed humanitarian nation, the U.S. government and the American public need to ask and answer: Will the U.S. lead again as in the refugee decade, rising to do far more than we thought possible on humanitarian fronts? Will we put in place bold policies and strategies as we did in the past when faced with equally, though different, global humanitarian challenges? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government need to break the silence on humanitarian action regarding Syrian refugees. Along with domestic and international partner organizations, the U.S., UN and others need to "put ordinary people at the heart of decision-making," as Ms. Amos calls for in her commentary. To do would require leadership by which humanitarian actions, such as "no fly zones," are woven into the fabric of government policies and responses at home. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You might also like to read: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">Fred Hiatt, "</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">The Defense of Inaction</a></b>," The Washington Post, April 19, 2015 </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>For this article, Mr. Purcell drew on the epilogue draft of his book manuscript. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Jim Purcell lives outside Washington, DC.</i></span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-53489503814810259392015-05-23T21:22:00.001-04:002015-09-15T12:06:22.625-04:00BRIEF FLASH on Book Progress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<li><span style="font-size: large;">Book agent queries on-going.</span> </li>
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<li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Hope of the Phoenix</i> Foreword by U.S. policy leader </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-size: large;">Short e-books on current Middle East-Europe crisis and U.S. past humanitarian work being adapted for early printing. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Hope of the Phoenix</i> book proposal has been underway for a few weeks of writing, editing, and review by an experienced proposal guide. <b>Update:</b> Proposal complete. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">When a fresh overview of the book is finished, the marketing section will have final touches added. <b>Complete.</b></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;">IN THE NEWS</span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Current refugee and aid worker crises,</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">lagging supplies</span> and continuing danger for citizens of Syria and beyond, in Middle East, continue to demand attention and answers soon. --Blog editor. 7/15</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-20049119076148761142015-05-09T11:41:00.004-04:002015-05-27T20:19:38.943-04:00BIG CHANGE IN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY MADE REFUGEE FUTURES BETTER<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Inside <i>Book 1-Awake and Rise</i>: The International <i>Geneva Conference on Boat People </i></b></span></div>
<i>For readers interested in, yet not familiar with, refugee issues of the 1970s and '80s, links are provided for some of the information below. </i><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR60Tny6OUkHIWcrWpYjlxvGF66ORW3dptlJNqsO1Ilmono1yPl_Hs2QO9rQ51skjalddpZcv649KPPhy4PG16tY7cNxju6rRyemzKkD_4ReejppEc38VEtytSEAMV17JFuMBv9TCEK0A/s1600/Geneva+Conference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR60Tny6OUkHIWcrWpYjlxvGF66ORW3dptlJNqsO1Ilmono1yPl_Hs2QO9rQ51skjalddpZcv649KPPhy4PG16tY7cNxju6rRyemzKkD_4ReejppEc38VEtytSEAMV17JFuMBv9TCEK0A/s1600/Geneva+Conference.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Geneva Conference<br />
on Indochina-photo en.wikipedia.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the early times of <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">World War
II, President Roosevelt called for a meeting in <b><a href="http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007698" target="_blank">Evian, France</a></b>, to focus on refugee plight. However, the U. S. sent an unofficial
representative, unlike other governments. Engagement or isolation remained two opposing principles of United States foreign policy.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/" target="_blank">Evacuations</a></b></span> during Saigon, South Vietnam's chaos of <b><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/" target="_blank">1975, as </a></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">North Vietnam troops advanced toward Saigon and the U.S. embassy, </span></a></b>were not the end as some hoped. A sea of refugee numbers swelled, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher proposed the <b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/1.Source:%20http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1979/jul/24/geneva-conference-on-indo-chinese" target="_blank">Geneva Conference on Boat People for two days in July 1979. </a></b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Unlike the Evian Conference in 1938, when Europe was already at war against Hitler, the Geneva conference related to aftershocks of the Vietnam War attracted big actors on the international scene, including the American vice president. A British Parliament afterward praised the meeting's success:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> "In concentrating international attention on the plight of the refugees and
on the urgent need to help them and the countries in which they have sought
refuge, the conference was humanitarian. But it was widely agreed that the
problem could not be solved unless attention was also given to its root causes
and that these have been the inhumane policies of Vietnam.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="column_1816" name="column_1816"></a> "The conference resulted in a massive
increase in offers of resettlement places, from 125,000 to 260,000, and in new
pledges of additional financial support for the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees' activities amounting to <b><span style="color: blue;">190 million United States
dollars</span></b>…." (emphasis added; 1979 dollars)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">U.S. Vice-President <a href="http://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/11/16/vietnamese-refugees" target="_blank">Walter F. Mondale</a> said that the Geneva conference was intended to <a href="http://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/11/16/vietnamese-refugees" target="_blank">"turn the heat up"</a> on the crisis of refugee boat people. He led the American delegation and gave an emotional speech, paying attention to the fact that the Geneva conference marked the highest level government delegation ever to attend an international refugee meeting. In Mondale's view, engagement was and should be the guiding principle of the immediate post-Vietnam War era and into the future. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I would have loved to be there," Jim Purcell said. He stayed in Washington, DC, under the rationale that the new U.S. refugee organization was </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">shaky, </span></span>in early stages, and he wanted to be in place, in case. An official congressional decision and State Department announcement of the new refugee program's 'home,' its capacities and roles, had only recently been made firm. As the conference met, the bureau's launch from Washington's State Department was made official. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Historically, State had been either uninvolved in running programs or assessed as unsuccessful in their operation. The new bureau for refugees would be a test on many levels, and eyes were on it from the nation's capital, to towns where volunteer citizens lived, and across the international community. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">At home, the State Department and Capitol Hill would need to address urgent budgetary needs on behalf of refugees. The proverbial ball had finally started rolling, and Jim Purcell was to be the point person, watchman on the wall, and planner for the long haul, although he did not yet realize it. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well-known appointees would come and go as directors of the program, some seeming to have more commitment than others. As a deputy, manager, and acting director in an unavoidable see-saw fashion between appointees, Jim was made the official director by appointment of Secretary of State George P. Shultz in 1983, four years after the program's launch. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In early days organizing State's refugee program, one of Jim Purcell's chief interests was the history of U.S. policy and action regarding refugees. The unsuccessful Evian-les-Bain conference seemed, to him, to be a missed opportunity for the U. S. to avoid repeating later. T</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">he Geneva Conference on Boat People formally marked a major shift in U. S. foreign and refugee policy. As one reader has put it, "significant change in American involvement." </span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-60503866745104995492015-05-09T10:52:00.000-04:002015-05-27T19:44:50.943-04:00"Hope of the Phoenix" author hopes to reach Gen-Xers and Millennials about the Refugee Decade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Hope of the Phoenix</i></b></span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><b>The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit </b></i><br />
<i><b>from the Ashes of Vietnam, 1975-1986</b></i><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswIhymBla75HwiCA-V3b7jR_ugW6Cb6m-a-OXuCEZyfI8JGaeQoIhxAoF2TK-9KAeBHTXCIA_bFo_ZZ9-RMYON4jm2AoOKaViBZlygxGfULhE6I1NihfVDQ36UkXk8M7BSBbm69_5yhA/s1600/040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswIhymBla75HwiCA-V3b7jR_ugW6Cb6m-a-OXuCEZyfI8JGaeQoIhxAoF2TK-9KAeBHTXCIA_bFo_ZZ9-RMYON4jm2AoOKaViBZlygxGfULhE6I1NihfVDQ36UkXk8M7BSBbm69_5yhA/s320/040.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early draft notes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>James N. (Jim) Purcell, Jr. </b><i><b></b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>Hope of the Phoenix </b></i>is two or three weeks away from a finished manuscript. The author's 400 pages establish a historical record about a team that saved post-Vietnam War Refugees (1975), then refugees in Cambodia and Laos, followed quickly by global refugee emergency rescues from 1979 onward. The years of the mid-1970s into the 1980s have often been referred to as "the refugee decade."<br />
<br />
The pages show ideals, risks, and results of the leading nation in the world reawakened to its humanitarian spirit, joined under complementary policies, and a noble spirit sometimes forgotten and even avoided.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Refugee numbers exploded in an aftershock of global upheavals--the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and the USSR--that forced civilians to flee across borders. The USSR, on the other hand, ignored advocate please around the world to release any Soviet Jews and other persecuted minorities that wanted to emigrate. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"This story needs to be told before eyewitnesses are gone." That is the energy behind the <i>Hope of the</i> <i>Phoenix</i> being finished now, decades after events. It's history largely unrecorded about brave actors around the world in different places, positions of influence, and power.<br />
<br />
Millennials and the as-yet-unnamed generations after them should also hear of their nation's duty, and theirs, to help refugees in whatever ways possible. They need a purpose beyond themselves. They deserve a well-told, inspiring first-hand true story of how a nation combined policy and action at a critical period of its history.<br />
<br />
To Gen-Xers and Millennials, the Vietnam War and its aftermath is like ancient history unless their interest is awakened to millions of refugee sagas, globally, that affected public policies and still have value for how America will lead and respond to "what's next?" questions of how and when to rescue and restore lives torn and taken by armed conflicts. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<i>*The U.S. Refugee Program was renamed later as Population, Refugees, and
Migration within State, serving refugees and
others. In these days, the world watches the another expanding critical mass of desperate victims of conflict. </i></div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-41468700352369469932015-05-06T14:09:00.001-04:002015-05-27T20:24:11.552-04:00AUTHOR ENJOYS REUNION WITH "THE BOSS," FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE P. SHULTZ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF4J90I-IvZjw3uW0V9C0IhQTM6cNMu0kD3Te7rvsjbF3eK8BPh8c8yUQ-flaZygLlSJ93ewz0rG_F4tSet_0zKH-QtbWXJ_moikbAsMgKM6Rvz1Tjh0MquXtUb9wFFoazXPOt6UHUhwQ/s1600/20150428_103041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF4J90I-IvZjw3uW0V9C0IhQTM6cNMu0kD3Te7rvsjbF3eK8BPh8c8yUQ-flaZygLlSJ93ewz0rG_F4tSet_0zKH-QtbWXJ_moikbAsMgKM6Rvz1Tjh0MquXtUb9wFFoazXPOt6UHUhwQ/s1600/20150428_103041.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JIM PURCELL AND FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE P. SHULTZ </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Hope of the Phoenix</i></b><b> </b></span><br />
<b>The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit </b><br />
<b>from the Ashes of Vietnam</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>"The work of people in this Department has saved countless
lives. Your dedication to the refugees of Indochina marks one of the
shining moments of the Foreign Service." </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.hoover.org/profiles/george-p-shultz" target="_blank">Secretary of State George Shultz</a> </span><span style="font-size: small;">spoke those words to State Department officers in a speech, the "Meaning of Vietnam." All gathered in and around State's front entrance hall on April 25, 1985,
five days prior to the 10th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jim met with George P. Shultz in California on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in the Secretary's office at the Hoover Institution, on the Stanford University campus. Jim briefed Mr. Shultz about <i>Hope of the Phoenix,</i> and they reminisced about that crucial era - "the refugee decade."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The two men noted that their meeting about Jim's book coincided almost to the day with the 40th anniversary of the <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/09/16/rory-kennedy-looks-lessons-war-with-new-documentary-last-days-vietnam/R74yqhaAddpujw7U8dKXlJ/story.html" target="_blank">Fall of Saigon,</a> April 30, 1975, when cries for help for thousands, then millions, of Southeast Asia refugees began. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As Secretary of State for President Reagan, Mr.Shultz spoke up for refugee haven, aid, and assistance. He spoke before Congress on behalf of humanitarian immigration for Amerasian children. He participated in foreign policy negotiations with governments needing U.S. insistence on changes (e.g., the USSR and Soviet Jews and other religious minorities) as part of negotiations on other vital global interests. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Refugee issues were an integral part of U.S. foreign policy decisions during three presidential administrations: Ford, Carter, and Reagan, each of whom recognized and acted upon humanitarian elements of foreign policy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Hope of the Phoenix: The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit from the Ashes of Vietnam, 1975-1986 </i>brings to life a remarkable slice of U.S. history regarding refugees. The insider's view of the interim and then appointed director of the new Bureau for Refugee Programs, 1979-1986, is full of region-wide accounts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From Southeast Asia, an array of global crises erupted: the Middle East,USSR (as mentioned), Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, the Mediterranean, and South Asia. Their plight needed the organization and convincing outreach of the United States.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The State Department and its Refugee Program led the way with its in-house team, foreign embassy teams, other U.S. agencies at home and abroad, the U.S. Congress, the UN and its affected agencies, including the Red Cross, International Red Cross, UNHCR, World Food Program, and many others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What highly recommends the book is its thorough research: recorded interviews of others on-the-scene, peer reviews from the same, and an array of news and other reports of the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Five Books (parts/sections) include chapters according to regions. The fifth and briefest of all the books is being written and is under peer review and comments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All of this and more Jim and George P. Shultz, whom Jim has considered a mentor since 1970, experienced up close to strategic and tactical decisions and actions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jim appreciated Mr. Shultz's recent encouragement for the book. </span><br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-53955823664569613712015-04-28T18:19:00.003-04:002015-05-27T20:21:07.973-04:00AUTHOR RECALLS HOW PRESIDENT REAGAN BUILT UPON PRESIDENT CARTER'S CRITICAL CHANGES FOR REFUGEES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Hope of the Phoenix</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>The Reawakening and Rise oF America's Humanitarian Spirit </i></b><br />
<b><i>from the Ashes of Vietnam</i></b><br />
<b><i>1975-1986 </i></b></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYEmQcokbbu1zCmHj6kaFtX9gvQPP-VQI0pmDp-8A0JgQitcctxV_yjintuAPR_e3cETn9CpM0HFya3O3Ne49V2jQn0qi4y-ZaterYT8DlZ1iSiiGz3FpxBViev2YjzMy5vppK0apOPh8/s1600/Carters+and+Reagans+together.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYEmQcokbbu1zCmHj6kaFtX9gvQPP-VQI0pmDp-8A0JgQitcctxV_yjintuAPR_e3cETn9CpM0HFya3O3Ne49V2jQn0qi4y-ZaterYT8DlZ1iSiiGz3FpxBViev2YjzMy5vppK0apOPh8/s320/Carters+and+Reagans+together.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Presidents Carter and Reagan (photo credit: History.com)</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Author Jim (James N., Jr.) Purcell remembers when <a href="https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=President+Reagan&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001" target="_blank">President Reagan </a>took the torch and heartily supported the new Bureau for Refugee Programs at the State Department. </b><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P._Shultz" target="_blank"><b>George P. Shultz</b></a> was President Reagan's Secretary of State after Alexander Haig. </b><br />
<br />
<b>In 1979, <a href="https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=president+carter&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001" target="_blank">President Carter</a>'s</b><b> </b><b>State Department geared up to establish a new bureau for refugee programs to deal with the continuing and increasingly critical flow of refugees from Southeast Asia after the Fall of Saigon, April 30, 1975--40 years ago. </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P._Shultz" target="_blank"><b>Incoming in 1981, President Reagan </b></a><b>gave full support to State's growing Bureau for Refugee Programs, today known as <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/prm/" target="_blank">Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration. </a></b><br />
<br />
<b>The author has considered Secretary
Shultz to be a professional mentor since 1976</b>, when President Nixon
appointed Mr. Shultz to be director of the Bureau of the Budget, now known as the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/" target="_blank">Office of Management and Budget (OMB) </a>and the author, a young budget analyst, met him at the outset and told his own staff, "This time, we got a good one." <br />
<br />
In 1982, President Reagan appointed Mr. Shultz to the State Department, and he was the author's boss in the Refugee program, where the author served from 1979 to 1986. <br />
<br />
<b>April 28, 2015, in the finishing stages of writing <i>Hope of the Phoenix, </i>Jim Purcell is scheduled to visit at the </b><a href="http://www.hoover.org/fellows" target="_blank">Hoover Institution</a>, not far from <b>San Francisco, </b>to meet with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P._Shultz" target="_blank"><b>former Secretary of State George P. Shultz</b></a> .<br />
<br />
<b>The meeting with "the boss" </b>will set a cherished milestone for the author. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-50184247185075993912015-04-15T16:23:00.003-04:002015-05-06T13:43:09.190-04:00Book Progress Update April 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Hope of the Phoenix</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit </i></b><br />
<b><i>from the Ashes of Vietnam</i></b><br />
<b><i>1975-1986 </i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>James N. Purcell, Jr. </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Genres:</i> Memoir; Refugees; Public Policy; History (U.S.State Department refugee program, 1975-1986) <b></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h3>
<b>UPDATE-April 2015</b> </h3>
<h3>
Travel</h3>
</div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #4F81BD .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoIntenseQuote">
<b>Calendar -</b>Jim is scheduled to meet with former <b>U.S. Secretary of
State George P. Shultz</b> at the <a href="http://www.hoover.org/fellows" target="_blank">Hoover Institution</a>, not far from <b>San Francisco, </b>CA, at
the end of April 2015. This will be a milestone for the author for whom Secretary
Shultz has been a professional mentor. In 1976, President Nixon appointed Mr. Shultz to be director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) where Jim was an analyst. Later, Secretary Shultz was Jim's boss when Jim served in the
U.S. Refugee Program at State.<br />
<br />
<b>Travel under discussion</b>- <b>Jim's wife Jean </b>is discussing with him her possible visit to the <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/" target="_blank"><b>Truman Library</b></a> in <b>Independence, MO</b>, while Jim is in California, end of April. Of special interest to them are archived papers of <b><a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/warren.htm" target="_blank">George Warren</a>,</b> whose unpublished manuscript is a resource noted in <i>Hope of the Phoenix. </i>George
Warren assisted at the
<b><a href="http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007698" target="_blank">Evian Conference</a></b>, Evian-les-Bains, France, 1938, a disappointing yet important initiative of
President Roosevelt to discuss with European leaders their rising
refugee crisis, early World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (The conference failure led to better work at a London meeting the next month-covered in <i>Hope of the Phoenix</i>). Mr. Warren also assisted Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt's work to obtain approval for the <b><a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/drafters.shtml" target="_blank">Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948</a></b>. Mr. Warren serrved in other refugee-related capacities, including the post-WWII Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. </span></div>
<div class="MsoIntenseQuote">
</div>
</div>
<h2>
Peer Reviews </h2>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #4F81BD .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
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Incorporation of selected peer review input is 99 % finished. Reviewers' comments and questions have lent clarification and correction overall. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<h2>
</h2>
</div>
</div>
<h2>
Book Proposal</h2>
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The proposal draft for <i>Hope of the Phoenix</i> has been agreed with a book proposal expert. </div>
</div>
<h2>
What is the time-line for completion of the book/manuscript?</h2>
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Completion date amended: The author does not want to publish an estimated completion date yet.<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Comments on this blog are welcome. </i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-9633377416020510762015-02-12T15:25:00.007-05:002015-05-23T21:21:13.927-04:00From a Book's Base Camp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>An Author's Assistant </b><b>Reports </b><br />
I have been here as the Book Alps have been climbed, and now in view is the top of the final, or almost-final, draft.<br />
<br />
Some reviewer comments are yet to come in. Once received and accepted, those will be integrated. However, the author's view from the front is is that the journey has still a long way to go.<br />
<br />
Like the ascent of writing, the descent record will include painstaking efforts for the full bibliography, correct and formatted end notes, and more fact-checking, including reviewing audio taped interviews, to name a few items. <br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-47984513388364898592015-02-11T17:40:00.004-05:002015-11-19T22:06:22.571-05:00Author Remembers Humanitarian Response during Carter Administration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";">(Web version with links added. Based on published article using manuscript notes and reflections about President Carter for forthcoming book.)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";"> </span></span></span><br />
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</h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";">From </span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: xx-small; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i>The Carter-Mondale Letter</i>, </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: xx-small; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Fall 2014</span></span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: x-small; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></h3>
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<div style="line-height: 16pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";">Administrator
Reflects on U.S. Refugee Policy in the 1970s</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">By Jim Purcell </span></span></span></h3>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">To set the stage for these
reflections, I return to two separate eras: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">(1) my earlier career in <a href="http://www.nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/omb-and-the-presidency-the-problem-of-neutral-competence" target="_blank">President Ford’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB)</a> and the State Department’s <a href="http://eca.state.gov/about-bureau/history-and-mission-eca" target="_blank">Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs (CU)</a> and </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">(2) <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/etzioni/A144.html" target="_blank">President Carter’s 1979 decision in favor of increased American resettlement of Indochina refugees. </a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">From my
vantage point, both periods contributed to immense growth in American understanding and
appreciation of the rest of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">In President Ford’s Office of
Management and Budget in 1974, I had been the International Affair’s examiner
for the State Department’s educational and cultural programs, known as CU. As
budget examiners are prone to do, I posed a number of far-out options for the
OMB Director during an annual process we formally called “Director’s
Review.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">The President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) <span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";">d</span>irector at the time
was Roy Ash. I had questioned the necessity of sizable federal expenditures for international educational and cultural
exchange programs, such as the famous <a href="http://eca.state.gov/about-bureau" target="_blank">Fulbright </a>Fellowships, rather than placing
greater reliance on private sector fellowships and exchanges. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Private academic
exchanges dwarfed federally-funded programs then, as now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To test my ideas, I spent most of six months
hunting data on private academic exchanges, and I was loaded for bear during
the review. Of course, I had also articulated the case for the prevailing
scenario, continued Federal support sufficient to garner enhanced understanding
of and support for U.S. foreign policy goals.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">State’s program at that time operated
under provisions of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1962,
authored by Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The term “mutual” related
to the need for foreigners to understand more about the U.S. and its policies,
as well as for better U.S. understanding of the rest of the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">After listening to my arguments, OMB
Director Ash made a surprising decision that was later endorsed by the
President: He opted for elimination of future Federal support for educational
exchanges in favor of private funding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">The decision hit the CU bureau and others who supported continued Federal
support for academic exchanges like a torrent of Arctic blasts. I felt
especially bad, since my analysis had been the likely instigator of this
decision, although I had advocated for better balance between public and
private exchanges and had not envisioned the either/or consequence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">CU’s Executive Director, Don Leidel,
knew of my dismay and decided that I was, perhaps, the right person to undo
this decision. His Assistant Secretary, John Richardson, agreed, and Don
approached me about leaving OMB and coming to State/CU. I made the move during
President Ford’s time in office. ...</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">"The decision hit the CU bureau and others who supported continued Federal
support for academic exchanges like a torrent of Arctic blasts. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">I felt
especially bad, since my analysis had been the likely instigator....</span>"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">I had been contemplating a
move to the foreign policy side of the government for some time. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Based on the
advice of Professor Roscoe Martin of Syracuse University’s Maxwell Graduate
School, I spent the first ten years of my career developing expertise in the
key skills of budgeting, personnel, contracting, congressional relations,
conflict resolution, and management. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">After several years as the senior career
budget analyst in OMB’s International Division, I felt ready and prepared to
leave the ivory tower and begin to apply these skills to modern-day
international affairs program<s>s</s> management on the ground. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">During my first year in State/CU, we
assembled our arguments against elimination of future federal support of
international educational exchange programs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Assistant Secretary Richardson was particularly taken with the assertion
that whereas almost every foreigner knows or has heard much about the U.S.,
Americans in turn know little about the rest of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were isolated in our thinking and
understanding. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">American Learning</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">If the U.S. wanted to play an increasingly
important role in the emerging global community, we would have to substantially
increase our world knowledge and outreach. Scholars, government and business
leaders and global political leaders rallied around this hypothesis. John
referred to our efforts as “American learning.” </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">We made a special presentation to OMB
during the next year’s budget cycle. Director James Lynn conducted the annual
Director’s Review for State that year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After listening to the arguments, he not only reversed the previous
year’s decision, he also substantially increased the budget for these academic
exchange programs. The Ford Administration agreed that our global future
depended in large part on better American learning and understanding of the
rest of the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">A few years down the road, President
Jimmy Carter significantly increased Indochina refugee resettlement levels to
the U.S. to 14,000 persons per month. This landmark decision, announced by Vice
President Mondale at the Geneva Conference, brought the American public into
the Indochina refugee program in a big and special way, resulting in quantum
boosts to American learning and understanding of foreigners. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Before long,
almost every community, congregation, and parish in America was hard at work
helping refugees assimilate and integrate into U.S. society. In most cases,
U.S. citizens concerned themselves with the needs of foreigners for the very
first time. Our horizons and our outlook began to expand and have continued
to do so. This, I believe, was American learning at its best.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/32979/barry-wain/the-indochina-refugee-crisis" target="_blank">Jimmy Carter’s 1979 initiatives </a>led
to the saving of hundreds of thousands of lives over the ensuing years and the
stabilization of an important region of the world. Even though these decisions
were made for foreign policy and humanitarian reasons, the by-product,
expanding American learning and understanding of the world beyond, was, in my
view, equally beneficial. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">"T</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">his, I believe, was American learning at its best."</span></b></span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Therefore, I will always recall the
Carter years as a time in which we broadened our American leadership paradigm
in global humanitarian matters and in the wider world beyond. Even though the
political leaders that the Carter Administration assigned to the refugee
program left much to be desired, his example guided people who stayed and kept
their shoulders to the wheel, moving forward. I was proud to be among them.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Significant to me personally, I had
landed in the State Department and would remain there for a while to see what
was to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">Carter-Mondale Newsletter Editor note</span></span></i><i><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">: </span><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">Jim Purcell headed the Refugee Bureau at the State Department during the Carter administration. </span></i></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">*****</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Purcell, Jim. "Administrator Reflects on U.S. Refugee Policy in the 1970s." <i>The Carter-Mondale Letter</i>, </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Vol. 9, Issue 2. </span></span>(Fall 2014): 6-7. (<i>The Carter-Mondale Letter</i> is different from <i>The Carter Center News.</i>)</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-34476428629140354412014-11-22T13:11:00.000-05:002016-01-30T11:41:06.322-05:00Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Beginning with <i>"</i>Awake and Rise<i>"</i></span></h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was at the U. S. Department of State (State), the summer of 1979, four years after the "Fall of Vietnam," April 30, 1975. </span></b></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Top-floor </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">State </span></b>brass summoned Jim to help with a growing crisis. Urgent appeals from foreign service officers in Southeast Asia told of thousands more former Vietnamese allies--and their families--at risk, barely surviving as refugees. </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Approval to build within State a new U.S. refugee program--</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">almost from the bottom up--</span></b>had finally come through. Work had to begin at once, or State might lose this critical foreign affairs role to a group of agencies outside State. </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></b></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jim faced serious career and personal challenges when the summons came. He did not want more problems to deal with; yet, there must have been a reason why he listened to the needs that day. </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Learning about the enormous project they wanted him to take on--to design and build this new program-- Jim's mind formed one question</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">: </span></b><br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"If I take on this role<i> that rumor calls a 'career wrecker</i>,' will State keep <i>its </i>word to back me up for what I'll need to make such a program work?"</span></b></h4>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></b><br />
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
</h4>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***** </div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> Motivation to write this book</b></span> </span></span></h2>
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What do you do when you say 'yes' to a tough job that affects your country's and your life's history?</span></span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1969, 10 years before State's top-floor summons, Jim had been present at a White House press conference (Ron Zeigler, press secretary) when reporters' question focused on him, a "lowly budget analyst," amid rumors of Nixon's "secret plan to end the war in Vietnam"; </span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>...a decade later Americans woke up to reports of post-Vietnam refugees and Cambodian "killing fields" survivors and drowning 'boat people.' </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>No one could have guessed that these crises were prologue in the global refugee decade. </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/press-offices-history.htm" target="_blank">Old White House Press Room</a></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span></h2>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From the internet: "Until 1969, the <a href="http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/press-offices.htm">Press Corps Offices</a>
space was occupied by the White House Gymnasium and Flower Shop. Prior
to that, ...a room in the northwest
corner of the West Wing."</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In those days, members of the press were eager to scoop any sign of Richard Nixon's "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam. </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jim's role in preparing a military supplemental led the press to question him about its significance as a signal of the war's end. </span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Disclosure:</b> <b>Jim Purcell, my husband, has encouraged my interest in creating and posting on <a href="http://hopeofthephoenix.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">JNP Book blog</a>. </b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>I am thankful for people that have offered their enthusiasm and input to his efforts. </b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-13369643289252077942014-11-21T14:38:00.000-05:002014-11-23T12:53:09.415-05:00Book Updates and the Nightwriter's Cottage<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Book Update:</b> The full manuscript of Jim Purcell's book, <i>The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit from the Ashes of Vietnam </i>(subtitle), is finished. One of my favorite chapters includes "The Things We Tell Ourselves about Our Lives"--a personal background piece about what helped shape the author for the humanitarian challenges he faced; how does a 41-year-old husband, father, and civil servant build a team and change part of the powerful foreign service environment of the U.S. State Department?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A <b>book proposal</b> will be available soon for experienced <b>book agents </b>interested in possible representation to interested publishers; a recent </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">lunch meeting in Washington, DC</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, the starting point of the story, marked another step forward. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Author at Nightwriter's Cottage </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jean Purcell, blogger</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>November 2014</i> Jim Purcell stayed for a week at Phyllis Theroux's <a href="http://www.nightwriters.com/nightwriters/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Nightwriter's Cottage</span></b></a> in Ashland, Virginia, just north of Richmond; he worked days and evenings on the final chapters of his manuscript, four books (major sections) of approximately </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">600 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">double-spaced </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">pages for the full iteration of that time. I was there as companion and to do internet searches and to read some of his copy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When Jim and I first got to Ashland, we met Phyllis and her husband, Ragan Phillips; we talked briefly about the Work, what I now call "the massive manuscript." Before we parted that afternoon, a date had been set for a soiree where Jim would talk before a group about his opus. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We enjoyed the varied group at the discussion evening; we sensed that their experience had influenced a range of political and personal opinions among them. It seemed that Jim's topic evoked interest from a broad range. I thought that the questions gave a brilliant test run for an author and his story; Jim shared some of his knowledge at the center of a revived American engagement with the world post-Vietnam, and he related some of his professional and personal conclusions, as requested. <i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>What can happen to an author in one week away from the familiar town, schedules, and ringing phones?</i> More than expected, that's sure, based on our week at Nightwriter's cottage a three-hour drive from home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>About the writer's cottage:</b> Author <a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=Phyllis+Theroux+Ashland&FORM=R5FD1" target="_blank">Phyllis Theroux</a> has been closely affiliated with <a href="http://www.politics-prose.com/books" target="_blank">Politics and Prose bookstore and coffeehouse </a>for many years of her writing life. In the Washington, DC, area, where she once lived, P&P is a popular bookstore where authors speak and take questions...sort of like the night her husband planned for Jim to talk about his book. I think a mutual interest in politics and public policy opened the door for a great evening. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>What started this adventure: </b>I read a Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/newssearch/?query=Nightwriter%27s+cottage" target="_blank">article</a> by Ron Charles in September 2014 and made a quick application for an October date. A printable <a href="http://nightwriters.com/Cottage-Registration.pdf" target="_blank">reservation form</a> is on the cottage website. I also emailed Ron Charles a thank you for his article. I continue to like the Post more than other leading newspapers due to its close proximity to where we live and to columnists like Ron Charles and other regulars of different views. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>We welcome readers of this blog to sign up using one of the options on this blog; readers can access updates moving forward. </i></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-39331822006306399632014-09-16T13:16:00.001-04:002015-01-17T16:11:21.863-05:00IOM's Chiefs of Mission Conference in Geneva showed progress at many levelsJim and I attended the <a href="http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home.html" target="_blank">International Organization for Migration </a>(IOM) Global Chiefs of Mission Conference, September 2014, in Geneva. The meetings at the UN Palais des Nations included friends and colleagues from all over the world whom Jim knew during his terms as director-general of the organization (1988-1998). <br />
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It was with pleasure that we saw Ambassador and Mrs. William (Bill) Swing. Bill Swing is in a second term as director-general of IOM. His friend and colleague, <a href="http://kofiannanfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Kofi Annan</a>, former UN Secretary General, spoke at the IOM conference opening dinner.<br />
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To read more about the work of IOM use the link above to its <a href="http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home.html" target="_blank">website, also linked <span style="color: blue;"><b>here</b></span>. </a>Read about <a href="http://www.iom.int/cms/director-general" target="_blank">Director General William Swing</a>, the organization's <a href="http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/about-iom-1/mission.html" target="_blank">mission</a>, <a href="http://www.iom.int/cms/activities" target="_blank">activities</a>, and <a href="http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/about-iom-1/members-and-observers.html" target="_blank">member governments.</a><br />
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Every day there are reminders that humanitarian workers risk their lives to help others at risk and in need of urgent help for rescue, safety, health, shelter, credible information, and other important migration services.<br />
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<b>Personal note: </b>JNP had recently visited Montana USA with friends. Prior to returning home to prepare for Geneva he developed a high fever. At <a href="http://www.barretthospital.org/" target="_blank">Barrett Hospital </a>Emergency
Room in Dillon, Montana, Dr. Michael Clarke and Dr. Thomas
Murray, chief consultant, worked their wellness skills to lower Jim's fever. They prescribed medicine for the journey to Geneva, and the patient did very well. Barrett Hospital ER is listed
as one of the top 100 in the U.S.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4994229331751408224.post-63246700014797232222014-07-11T17:24:00.000-04:002014-11-21T23:15:43.729-05:00About Jim Purcell's Forthcoming Book 2015<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>"To the front press row I said in a low voice, “Believe me, folks, if the
President and national security adviser have a secret plan, they
wouldn’t use me to unveil it. I just work here.” From <a href="http://hopeofthephoenix.blogspot.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html" target="_blank">Harbinger, Chapter 1</a>, Hope of the Phoenix </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.usaim.org/BoardOfDirectors" target="_blank">James N Purcell, Jr.</a></b> is Chairman of the Board of the <b><a href="http://www.usaim.org/" target="_blank">U.S. Association for International Migration </a>(USAIM)</b>. He is a member of the board of the <b>Council for a Community of Democracies (<a href="http://www.ccd21.org/about/board.html" target="_blank">CCD</a>). </b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">His forthcoming book (2015), subtitled <b>"The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit from the Ashes of Vietnam,"</b> is the history of the <b>U. S. Refugee Program</b> (RP), 1979 to 1986, the author's personal narrative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The U.S. Department of State</b> tasked Jim Purcell with setting up the new <b>Bureau for Refugee Programs </b>(now Population, Refugees, and Migration) in 1979. President Reagan appointed Mr. Purcell as Assistant Secretary of State for the Refugee Program in 1983, where Mr. Purcell served until 1986, as the longest-serving director for the Refugee Program.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Through the State Department's Refugee Program, the U.S. put into place protocols and policies relied upon today around the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The early U.S. post-Vietnam refugee efforts involved <b>U. S. Presidents <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/05/former_vietnamese_refugee_visi.html" target="_blank">Ford</a>, <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=33154" target="_blank">Carter</a>, and <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=44128" target="_blank">Reagan</a>;</b> U. S. congressional committees and subcommittees, U. S. communities and churches, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), helping governments, and international organizations, among them: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<a href="http://www.unhcr.org/" target="_blank"><b>UNHCR</b></a>), International Committee of the Red Cross (<a href="http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2014/07-11-syria-displaced-aleppo-tartus-latakia.htm" target="_blank"><b>ICRC</b></a>), International Organization for Migration (<a href="http://iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home.html" target="_blank"><b>IOM</b></a>), and others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The U. S. Refugee Program team worked to strengthen American responses to humanitarian crises around the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Book Subtitle <i>The Reawakening and Rise of America's Humanitarian Spirit from the Ashes of Vietnam - 1979 to 1986 -</i>by <b>James N. Purcell, Jr.</b>, former Assistant Secretary of State, U. S. State Department, Bureau for Refugee Programs; former Director General, International Organization for Migration </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://hopeofthephoenix.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html" target="_blank"><b>The Distinguished Honor Award</b></a> from <b>Secretary of State George P. Shultz</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The Senior Executive Service Meritorious Executive Award</b> from <b>President Ronald R. Reagan</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Forthcoming Book Genres: <b>Refugees, Humanitarian crises</b>, Policy, Government, International </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Copyright (c) 2014 James N. Purcell, Jr. All rights reserved.</span><br />
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