ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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Q: You said that after Clevel<strong>and</strong> you went to Seattle. Where did you live in Seattle?<br />
PERINA: After all they had gone through together, my parents divorced in 1961, <strong>and</strong> I<br />
moved with my mother to Seattle, where she remarried. We lived in south Seattle near<br />
Seward Park <strong>and</strong> Lake Washington, <strong>and</strong> I went to Franklin High School. I had not always<br />
been a good student, <strong>and</strong> I had some difficult years, particularly in junior high school<br />
where I received some C’s <strong>and</strong> once even a D. But then in the 9 th grade I had this<br />
realization that I was being categorized as a mediocre student. It made me angry. I<br />
became serious about school <strong>and</strong> got straight A’s from the 10 th grade to the 12 th . I<br />
graduated as valedictorian out of a class of some 600 students. I remember my<br />
commencement address where I spoke about the lure of travel <strong>and</strong> exploring other<br />
countries. I had a great desire, from high school onward, to see other parts of the world.<br />
Q: Did you find particularly from elementary school up through your time in Seattle any<br />
types of books that were particularly important to you?<br />
PERINA: I began greatly to enjoy travel books <strong>and</strong> adventure books, <strong>and</strong> also historical<br />
fiction. I also became very interested in Europe, where I felt I had roots. In 1961, when<br />
my parents were getting divorced, they sent me <strong>for</strong> the summer to Europe. They were<br />
going through all the court proceedings <strong>and</strong> thought it better if I would be away. They<br />
sent me <strong>for</strong> the summer to study French in a school in Switzerl<strong>and</strong>. It was my first trip to<br />
Europe. I was 16 years old <strong>and</strong> I traveled alone. It was quite unusual at that time <strong>for</strong> a 16year-old<br />
kid to be sent alone to Europe, <strong>and</strong> subsequently the Clevel<strong>and</strong> Plain Dealer<br />
even carried an article about it. I went from New York by boat, which at that time was<br />
still cheaper than flying, <strong>and</strong> I think my father got a discount <strong>for</strong> me through his previous<br />
employment with the French Line. I arrived in Le Havre France <strong>and</strong> then went by train to<br />
Paris, Munich, Venice, Milan <strong>and</strong> Geneva, spending a few days in each city. Then I spent<br />
two months learning French in a boarding school in a little Swiss town called Les<br />
Diablerets, near Lausanne. It was a <strong>for</strong>mative experience <strong>and</strong> instilled in me further<br />
desire to travel <strong>and</strong> see the world.<br />
Q: I take it that you were <strong>for</strong> a long time pointed towards attending a university after<br />
high school.<br />
PERINA: Yes, I was. I always assumed that I would go to a university. I almost always<br />
assumed that I would go to graduate school <strong>and</strong>, I always thought I would end up as a<br />
university professor.<br />
Q: Do you remember where your family fell politically?<br />
PERINA: Well, they were conservative. They were anti-Communist <strong>and</strong> Republican their<br />
whole lives. Most of the post-war emigration from Communist countries was closer to the<br />
Republicans than to the Democrats. It was a generational thing. There was an earlier, prewar<br />
Czech immigration which was more economic than political, <strong>and</strong> it was closer to the<br />
Democrats. But my parents <strong>and</strong> most of their friends were Republicans because the<br />
Republican Party was seen as being more anti-Communist.<br />
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