The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

Gleysteen personally helped per- suade President Carter, during a presidential visit to the country in 1979, to reverse his election cam- paign pledge to pull American troops out of South Korea. As reported in the Washington Post , Richard Holbrooke, then assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, recalled in an inter- view how after a difficult meeting with the South Korean leadership, President Carter drove back to the ambassador’s residence accompa- nied by Mr. Gleysteen; Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who also opposed troop withdrawal; and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who favored it. “The limousine drew up at the front door and nobody got out,” Holbrooke remembered, “so we looked in through the window and saw Bill Gleysteen talking, talking, talking.” The upshot of that pro- longed argument? President Carter reluctantly agreed to reconsider his withdrawal pledge. Toward the end of his tenure in 1981, as the New York Times report- ed, Amb. Gleysteen faced another delicate task as he sought to per- suade South Korea’s military leaders not to execute the opposition leader, Kim Dae Jung, who had been con- demned to death for political offens- es. (Kim Dae Jung was elected pres- ident of South Korea in 1997.) Amb. Gleysteen had the challenging task of managing America’s relationship with a close ally in the grip of a severe political cisis. Amb. Gleysteen subsequently wrote about these times and the U.S. response in his book, Massive Entanglement, Marginal Influence: Carter and Korea in Crisis , which won the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Douglas Dillon Award for a Book of Distinction on the Practice of American Diplomacy in 2002. Upon retirement from the Foreign Service in 1981, Amb. Gleysteen became director of the Asia Society’s Washington Center. In 1983, he moved to New York, where he was director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and president of the Japan Society. In 1995, Amb. Gleysteen moved to Bethesda, Md. Amb. Gleysteen’s marriage to Zoe Gleysteen ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn Wong Gleysteen of Bethesda, Md.; three children from his first marriage, Thea Clarke of Bethesda, Guy Gleysteen of Fairfield, Conn., and Michael Gleysteen of Ashburn, Va.; a daugh- ter from his second marriage, Anna Wong Gleysteen of Bethesda; a sis- ter, Ms. Anne Gleysteen Kramer of New York City; and seven grandchil- dren. Amb. Gleysteen’s brother, Culver Gleysteen, a retired FSO and U.S- Soviet relations specialist, died in October 2002. Glenwood B. Matthews , 93, retired Foreign Service officer, died Nov. 5, 2002, at his home in Orlando, Fla. Mr. Matthews was born in Eastport, Maine in 1908. He began his career as a telegrapher with Western Union at age 16. Due to his ability as a telegrapher the Office of Strategic Services recruited him during World War II to operate clan- destine radio stations in occupied territories. Following his time in uniform he served as a general ser- vices assistant until 1956. In this capacity he served in Seoul, Manila, Jakarta, Montevideo and Bogotá. Mr. Matthews was commissioned in 1956 as an FSO in Frankfurt, Germany. In this capacity he served as administrative officer in Lisbon, New Delhi, Colombo, Khartoum and Washington. In 1968 he retired to Orlando, Fla., but resumed his travels in 1973, accompanying his wife Ruth on her assignments as an FSO. Her assignments took them to Monterrey, Mazatlan, Rio de Janeiro, and the Azores. In 1988 Mr. and Mrs. Matthews returned to Florida, where they both retired. His wife of 42 years, Ruth, and his son William survive him. Maija-Leena Clarkson , 55, wife of FSO John C. Clarkson, died of natural causes March 18, 2002, while receiving treatment at a med- ical clinic. A memorial service was held May 6 at the Advent Lutheran Church, Arlington, Va. Mrs. Clarkson was cremated, and her ashes will be interred in Finland. A native of Finland, Mrs. Clarkson had accompanied her husband on assignments to Jamaica, Syria, Finland, Uzbekistan, Malaysia and New Zealand. An active member of Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide and the Foreign- Born Spouses Network, Mrs. Clarkson served as CLO in Damascus and as a USAID contractor in Tashkent. She was also a former member of the faculty and president of the Virrat Commercial College in Finland, and worked at the Madison Hotel during her husband’s assign- ment to Washington. She is survived by her husband, 68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3 I N M E M O R Y