Stoney Cooks Interviewee: Atlanta, Georgia, 1981 July 28 [Box 140, Item 17, Side 1]

1981-07-28

Dent, Tom

Stoney Cooks talks about the events surrounding Andrew Young's resignation from the United Nations.

00:00 - Tom Dent's interview with Stoney Cooks continues. They continue to talk about Andrew Young's time in the United Nations and the events leading up to his resignation. Cooks says Young misremembers the media leak following his meeting with the Palestine Liberation Organization. He talks about a trip he and Young were supposed to make. They were not allowed to visit the Middle East.03:33 - The trip to North Africa was put together be a connected journalist with the intention of connecting him with someone from the PLO. He had already had a dinner meeting with the Foreign Minister of the PLO the year before. He wrote up a memorandum of the meeting and was told by Phil Habib to file it away in his department instead of sending it to the State Department.05:28 - Young had clearly been moving forward the PLO question since his arrival in the UN. 07:45 - Dent's interpretation is that the conservatives in the State Department wanted Young out. Cooks does not completely agree. He thinks it had more to do with personalities and Young's failure to build a relationship with the Secretary of State. 10:12 - 'What he tried to do was have a personal relationship with a bureaucracy and you can't have a personal relationship with a bureaucracy.' He also failed to build a relationship with [Deputy Secretary of State] Warren Christopher.12:50 - The process of the resignation. He had thought about other possibilities. Young was interested in a position at the Ford Foundation prior to his resignation. He thought about running for Senate. He was growing tired of the U.N. and considered other options, but it would have been difficult for him to walk away from Carter.15:44 - Young sent a message to [Chief of Staff] Hamilton Jordan saying that if there was any way he could be helpful with the White House to let him know. He also sent a message wondering if there was a position dealing with Third World economics. Cooks alludes to the public perception of Young's departure versus the reality.18:09 - Cooks talks about the timeline of the news story about Young's meeting with Zehdi Terzi breaking. Cooks and others discussed with [Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs] Bill Maynes how to handle the story that would shortly break in Newsweek. Maynes had spoken to Young.22:52 - When Young volunteered the information that he had spoken to a representative of the PLO, he was covering for Maynes. Maynes would have lost his job if it was handled the way he had suggested. Young had been encouraged by Vance's people to get involved in the Middle East and the Soviet Union. Carter would not have encouraged this.25:15 - Jim Leonard called Young about what was in the Tel Aviv newspapers 3:00 a.m. New York time and that it did not look good. Cooks continues with the timeline. They knew there would be a press briefing on Monday. Tom Offenberger's office was wired to the press briefing room. They went to listen to the spokesman, who handled it poorly. Young thought he should take it into his own hands and talk to the Israeli Ambassador, Yehuda Zvi Blum.[Recording ends 31:37, continues on Side 2.]

Young, Andrew, 1932-
Carter, Jimmy 1924-
United Nations

Washington (D.C.)
New York City (N.Y.)

Tulane University Digital Library
Amistad Research Center

eng

sound recording

Dent.Stoney_Cooks 7.28.1981_Item_17-01

0:31:37

Audiocassette, mono. 16-bit
Box 140, Item 17, Side 1, Tom Dent collection, Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

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