The collection consists of the papers kept by John O'Leary during his Ambassadorship in Chile and in preparation for his assignment there. The collection includes daily schedules, correspondence (primarily email), subject files, press clippings, video tapes and awards.
In 1998, John O'Leary was nominated by President Clinton to be the Ambassador to Chile, a post he accepted and held for three years. The daily schedules collected here serve as a "day in the life" record of the meetings, events, correspondence and activities of the Ambassador, his family, and the U.S. Embassy in Santiago. O'Leary requested of the 250 staffers at the Embassy that the primary means for communication be email. The email he received was then printed out and saved as attachments to the daily schedules. The bulk of the attachments to the schedules are preparation materials for the day's meetings, including news articles, biographies of the people O'Leary would be meeting with, and briefings on issues. Speeches, invitations and guest lists are also attached. Interfiled with the schedules are O'Leary's travel files, a record of his diplomatic visits both within and outside the Chilean borders.
Chile, in the 1990s, was experiencing a period of economic growth and political stability after recovering from the economic crisis and harsh military dictatorship of the decade before. In October of 1998 Augusto Pinochet was detained in London on charges of crimes against humanity during his administration (1973-1989). Declassification of documents relating to political violence in Chile was ordered by President Clinton in December of 1998. As Ambassador, O'Leary created a team that met regularly to track and discuss developments in the Pinochet case. Materials from the Pinochet Team Meetings are filed with his daily schedules. Another important event in the history of Chile documented and referenced throughout the O'Leary collection is the development of a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. With O'Leary facilitating negotiations, the White House gave the go-ahead for the Agreement, the first such agreement made with a Southern cone country. A significant tie was also made between the two countries with the Chilean government purchasing American-made Lockheed Martin F16 Fighter Aircraft.
A great number of influential politicians and dignitaries made visits to Chile between the years of 1998 and 2001 including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Attorney General Janet Reno, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Senator Tom Daschle, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Secretary of Commerce William Daley, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, and the Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge. Materials pertaining to their visits are filed with the daily schedules.
Much of the material in the collection is filed chronologically with the daily schedules, therefore events can be looked up by date or by using the index. There are also subject files which contain news articles from both American and Chilean sources. These are valuable for giving a Chilean perspective on local and global topics. The "Chile Notebooks" were compiled in preparation for O'Leary's post and give an overview of the country and background information on important issues. There is a small series of notebooks from classes O'Leary attended at Yale.
[Sources: Vanden, Harry E. and Gary Prevost, Politics of Latin America, Oxford University Press, 2002. and La Tercera. 12 June, 2001 ]
*******
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:
John O'Leary (b. 1947) was the U.S. Ambassador to Chile 1998-2001. He was nominated by Bill Clinton on April 28, 1998 and confirmed by the Senate on June 26, 1998. O'Leary focused on Chilean politics during his undergraduate years at Yale. He graduated in 1969 and went on to earn his M.A.as a Mellon Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge University. O'Leary received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974. O'Leary met Bill Clinton as a fellow classmate at Yale. O'Leary was an associate at Pierce Atwood, Maine's largest law firm, from 1974 until 1979 and a partner from 1980 until 1998. In 1996 he was appointed by the American Bar Association as the chair of the Environmental Law Committee. A long-time resident of Portland, Maine O'Leary served the Portland Public Library Board, the City Council from 1975-1982 and as mayor, 1980-1981. He is married to Patricia Cepeda. The couple has two daughters, Alejandra Cepeda O'Leary and Gabriela Joyce O'Leary.
Patricia Cepeda is a native of Columbia. She is a 1977 graduate of Yale College and a professional interpreter. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a friend of her family and the godfather of her eldest daughter, Alejandra.
U.S. Embassy Officials:
James Carragher - Deputy Chief of Mission
Stephen Wesche - Econ/Political Counselor
Kathleen Brion - Counselor for Public Affairs
Richard Blabey - Agricultural Counselor
John Harris - Commercial Counselor
Chilean Officials:
Augusto Pinochet - Coup Leader, President of Chile (1974-1990)
Patricio Alywin - President of Chile (1990-1994)
Eduardo Frei - President of Chile (1994-1999)
Ricardo Lagos - President of Chile (2000 - )
Soledad Alvear - Minister of Foreign Relations (2000 - )
[Sources: Day, Adam. Mainebiz. "Santiago Calling," 23 July, 2001.]
*******
ABBREVIATIONS:
TL - Typed Letter
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
AL - Autograph Letter
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
AC - Autograph Card
ACS - Autograph Card Signed
O'Leary - John O'Leary
Ambassador - John O'Leary
Pinochet - Augusto Pinochet
FTA - Free Trade Agreement
NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement
JCTI - Joint Commission and Bilateral Consultative Mechanism
ACCESSION DATA:
Status: Open
Photocopying: Permitted, if in accordance with copyright law.
Provenance: Donated by John O'Leary in 2003.
Processed by Heidi Fetzer,
March 2004.
BULK DATES: 1998 - 2001
SPAN DATES: 1965 - 2001
EXTENT: 44 boxes (63.5 linear feet)