Portland State Magazine Winter 2010

Homecoming Middle East Studies graduate brings his expertise back to Portland State. WRITTEN BY MELIS SA STEINEGE R IF YOU'RE GO ING TO make a difference in world diplo– macy, it helps if a four-star general is your biggest fan. Diplomats, support personnel, and military officers attend the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service Institute to study culture, customs, religion, policies, and other issues before being dispatched abroad. For almost 30 years, Peter Bechtold '61 taught at the Washington, D.C., institute. In November he returned to Portland State as director of the Middle East Studies Center. Ir is a unique homecoming-Bechtold earned the center's first certificate in 1961. The four-star general-Norman Schwarzkopf-took Bechtold's class on the Near East at the Foreign Service Insti– tute just before raking the reins of the U.S. Central Command in late 1988, a position he held through the GulfWar. "The Foreign Service Institute program was taught by Peter Bechtold, a German-born expert on the Sudan," Schwarzkopf recounts in his autobiography, ft Doesn't Take a Hero. During the intensive 72-hour, rwo-week course, Schwarzkopf sat in the front row raking copious notes and "came home to Fort Myer every night exhilarated," he wrote in his book. Schwarzkopf became such a fan ofBechtold's course that he "suggested" to others under his command that they would benefit, too. "When a four-star general says, 'You know I really think you should go,' that's an order," says Bechrold, a genial raconteur who ends many of his stories with a bit of humor. WHIL E SC HWARZKOP F was perhaps the most recogniz– able name among his former students, Bechtold also is proud to claim 36 other generals and admirals and 28 students who went on to become U.S. ambassadors, including Joseph LeBaron '69, ambassador to Qatar, and Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Iraq and four other countries. Bechtold estimates that he has taught interdisciplinary courses and seminars to more than 11,500 men and women from the government's Defense Department, Foreign Service, and executive branch. These professionals attended a mini– mum of70 hours. In addition, he has conducted field research in 25 Middle East countries and is fluent in four Arabic dialects, classical Arabic, German, and French. He has appeared as a Middle East expert on PBS, CNN, NPR and overseas radio. And yet, it all began not with a great love of the Middle East, but with what Bechtold calls a coincidence. A native of Heidelberg, Germany, Bechtold came to Oregon as a teenager to visit two uncles. He liked the area, so when fall 1956 rolled around, he entered Portland State College. Ir was good timing. Three years later, Frederick J. Cox, profes– sor of history, helped open Portland State's Middle East Studies Center. Cox, a former naval intelligence officer, recognized the value of understanding other cultures around the world. Ivy League schools like Princeton and Harvard had graduate programs in Middle East studies, but PSU's was one of the nation's first undergraduate programs to receive federal fund– ing. In the first year of operations, the center offered anthro– pology, geography, economics, history, and Arabic language. Some 52 students took classes, including Bechtold. "One of my professors said to me, 'You're interested in international stuff, aren't you?"' recalls Bechtold. He signed up, but admits, "Since it was the Middle East Studies Center, I took Arabic and French. If it had been Brazil and Portuguese, I would have studied those." Many of the center's graduates have gone on to careers in government, academia, and business. Bechtold earned a bachelor's in math and a minor in Middle East studies, before going to Princeton on a full fellowship. ◄ After an illustrious career at the Foreign Service Institute, Peter Bechtold '61 is back directing the PSU Middle East Studies Center and enjoying Portland, including Marrakesh Moroccan Restaurant in the city's Northwest neighborhood. Photo by Kelly James. WINTER 2010 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 13