Copyright (c) 2014
(Web version with links added. Based on published article using manuscript notes and reflections about President Carter for forthcoming book.)
From The Carter-Mondale Letter, Fall 2014
Administrator
Reflects on U.S. Refugee Policy in the 1970s
By Jim Purcell
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.”
The President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director 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 Fulbright Fellowships, rather than placing
greater reliance on private sector fellowships and exchanges.
Private academic
exchanges dwarfed federally-funded programs then, as now. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. ...
"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...."
I had been contemplating a
move to the foreign policy side of the government for some time.
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.
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 programs management on the ground.
During my first year in State/CU, we
assembled our arguments against elimination of future federal support of
international educational exchange programs.
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. We were isolated in our thinking and
understanding.
American Learning
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jimmy Carter’s 1979 initiatives 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.
"This, I believe, was American learning at its best."
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.
Significant to me personally, I had
landed in the State Department and would remain there for a while to see what
was to come.
Carter-Mondale Newsletter Editor note: Jim Purcell headed the Refugee Bureau at the State Department during the Carter administration.
Purcell, Jim. "Administrator Reflects on U.S. Refugee Policy in the 1970s." The Carter-Mondale Letter, Vol. 9, Issue 2. (Fall 2014): 6-7. (The Carter-Mondale Letter is different from The Carter Center News.)
