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Diplomat unsure on race for governor
©Associated Press,
"I came here with the idea of trying to get two nations to communicate and understand each other," Ambassador Douglas "Pete" Peterson said in an interview last week. "By and large, I think we do have that. We have a much better understanding between the peoples and governments of our two nations." Accomplishing the mission he set for himself four years ago, the Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war is now ready to move on. He leaves his post July 15 to return to his home state of Florida, where he is being courted by some Democratic leaders who believe he can win the governorship now held by Republican Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush. The three-term former U.S. representative said he is considering running but will evaluate his chances more closely once he returns home. "I have to ultimately make that judgment based on what the merits are of my candidacy, the potential for success and whether I can be a positive force in Florida," he said. Peterson said he doesn't feel the need to make a rush decision on his candidacy. "I've made it clear I do not think this is something that has to be determined immediately. I think there's plenty of time to measure, evaluate and then determine," he said. But at times he sounded as if he had already made up his mind. "I've been a Floridian for the vast majority of my life, and I have a good deal of feeling for what I would like to see the state be," he said. "I think it's too early for me to note a lot of issues, but I've said in the past that the growth factor in Florida has always been a big problem. If you look at growth, then you look at all the other problems -- education, infrastructure, environment. "These are always looked at as individual problems, but the big problem is planning for growth. That's a factor that has not been addressed at the level of seriousness that I would do if I was at a point of leadership," he said. Peterson and his second wife, Vi Le, an Australian-Vietnamese trade official he met and married in Hanoi three years ago, will be returning to Tallahassee to make their decision. He leaves behind an exemplary reputation as diplomat and chief peacemaker. During his four years as ambassador, Peterson guided a gradually thawing detente with Hanoi that culminated in the signing of a historic trade pact last year. Currently being debated in Congress, the bilateral trade agreement is widely expected to be passed this summer. It is expected to open Vietnam to unprecedented trade and commerce with the United States. Its ratification represents the final step in the normalization of ties between the two countries, and much of the credit will go to Peterson, one of its most forceful advocates. "Clearly the BTA is the most lasting instrument we worked on here because it will govern our economic relationship for the next several decades," he said. Peterson's role in building trust and confidence between the countries has been significant. President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam last November in the first trip by an American leader since the war ended in 1975. "Clinton's visit was very important and enormously successful . . . (in saying) the conflict from the '60s and '70s is still well remembered. But that doesn't mean it has to obstruct progress. We want to stay engaged," he said. That might well be Peterson's own philosophy toward Vietnam. Peterson was a Democratic congressman from Marianna when Clinton picked him in 1996 as the first envoy to a united Vietnam. Peterson, an Air Force pilot, was shot down in his F-4 Phantom jet on Sept. 10, 1966, while making his 67th bombing run over North Vietnam. He spent 6 1/2 years as a POW, three in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton" prison where he was tortured and held in solitary confinement before being released in 1973. Peterson returned to Vietnam in the spring of 1997, settling into the U.S. Embassy just a few miles away from where he was once imprisoned. He has pursued formal normalization with the same single-mindedness he attached to his own personal reconciliation. "I do think my past experience has helped me personally in working for reconciliation because I have seen Vietnamese in their worst circumstances and they saw me at my worst as well," he said. "Now we're seeing ourselves perhaps at our best so we know the difference in where we were and where we can be." For many Vietnamese, Peterson becomes the walking personification of America's efforts to reconcile with its wartime enemy. His traumatic wartime experience only heightened his credibility. "I hope they realize I was an honest broker. I really felt deeply about my own personal commitment to assist them in their quest for success," he said.
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