Oral History Interview with Allen Keiswetter

Title
Oral History Interview with Allen Keiswetter
Narrator (written)
Allen Keiswetter
Narrator First Name
Allen
Narrator Last Name
Keiswetter
Interviewer
Andrew Carothers
Abstract
Allen L. Keiswetter. Class of 1966. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Keiswetter describes growing up in various towns in Kansas and Oklahoma and his transition to Dartmouth. He shares that athletics were not of particular interest and that he was more focused on academics as a child and in college. His interest in politics began during John F. Kennedy’s election. Keiswetter retells the story of his first encounter with his freshman year roommate, Landon [B.] Jeffers, Class of 1966. Keiswetter describes his freshman English class with Professor [Arthur] Dewing, as being very influential. He describes being exposed to Robert Frost, who gave his last lecture to Keiswetter’s class before his death. Keiswetter discusses his work as a student with Robert J. “Bob” Dole & Nelson A. Rockefeller. While at Dartmouth he describes himself as being a “Green Weenie” rather than a “Big Greenie”, more studious versus more athletic. He discusses his year spent at the European Studies Center in Bologna, Italy after graduation. From there, Keiswetter describes his transition into the Foreign Service Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) program and his time spent in Vietnam through that program. He shares his experience in Vietnam and explains how different his time was versus those who were serving in the military. He describes being able to move freely without much disruption or fear. Keiswetter describes himself as a Europeanist even though the bulk of his career focused on the Middle East. Keiswetter describes his career as a scholar at the Middle East Institute, a professor at the National War College, the National Defense Intelligence College, and at the University of Maryland.
Date of Interview
October 30, 2015
Subject
Dartmouth Alumni
Dartmouth History
Civil/Government Service
Language
English
Rauner ID
DOH-484
Rights
CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Interview Audio Source (MP3)
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/keiswetter_allen/keiswetter_allen.mp3
Interview Transcript Source (PDF)
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/keiswetter_allen/keiswetter_allen_transcript_final.pdf
HTML
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/keiswetter_allen/keiswetter_allen_transcript_final.html

Transcript