Fontaine, Roger W.: Files, 1981-1983

Political Affairs Directorate, NSC and Latin American Affairs Directorate, NSC

Political Affairs Directorate, NSC: Director Inter-American Affairs; Latin American Affairs Directorate, NSC: Director

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Scope and Content Note

The Office of Political Affairs included offices with the responsibility for various geographic regions. Under the old Office of Political Affairs, Roger Fontaine worked in the Inter-American Affairs Office. These regional responsibilities were later revised and elevated to directorates. Mr. Fontaine’s position was incorporated within the Latin American Affairs Directorate. His collection consists of his two offices combined. It consists of six series, and includes memoranda, cable, and correspondence relating to Central and South America.

This collection consists of six series: SERIES I: Subject File; SERIES II: Chronological File; SERIES III: Cable File; SERIES IV: State Visits and Trip File; SERIES V: Meeting Notebook File; and SERIES VI: Administrative/Personal File.

Series List

SERIES I: SUBJECT FILE

This series consists of subject files on countries or topics. With a few exemptions such as Afghanistan, Poland, and South Africa, the memoranda and correspondence within the files deal with Caribbean, Central and South American countries. Subjects covered within the series include the Caribbean Basin Initiative, the Falkland Islands, the Panama Canal, and other issues involving the Caribbean or Central and South America. The subject files also include files on organizations interested in Central and South American affairs such as the Council of the Americas, the Organization of American States, the Overseas Development Council, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Partners of the Americas. They are arranged alphabetically by subject or country, then by date.

SERIES II: CHRONOLOGICAL FILE

This series consists of official correspondence files maintained by Fontaine. A note dated in 1983 indicates January 1981 chronological files were not found. The documents and casefiles in the folders for February, March, April and May, 1981 were originally arranged in numerical order by document number, with a document list at the beginning of the folder. To standardize the arrangement and account for unnumbered documents in the folders, all documents are arranged in chronological order by date of document or casefile. Included in the chronological file are monthly reports from March to December 1981 and weekly reports from February 1981 to November 1983. Staff members were asked to submit weekly and monthly reports to their department head highlighting their major accomplishments and actions.

SERIES III: CABLE FILE

This series consists of a cable file maintained by Fontaine. The cables are arranged alphabetically by country and then in chronological order. While most of the cables are from 1982, there are also cables earlier than 1981 and some cables extend into the early months of 1983. There are some memoranda located in this series.

SERIES IV: STATE VISITS AND TRIPS FILE

This series consists of memoranda and correspondence regarding state visits by Central and South American foreign heads of state and trips to Central or South America taken by President Reagan. Also included are cables regarding Ambassador-at Large Richard Stone’s mission to Central America during the summer and fall of 1983. The files are arranged chronological by the date of the visit or trip.

SERIES V: MEETING NOTEBOOK FILE

This series consists of four notebooks, containing handwritten meeting notes taken during trips to Central and South America from June 1983-September 1983. The notebooks are identified by the date span of the meetings. The notebooks covering the August and September 1983 coincide with Fontaine’s trip to Central America with Ambassador-at-Large Richard Stone.

SERIES VI: ADMINISTRATIVE/PERSONAL FILE

This series consists of personal correspondence, administrative memoranda, and forms maintained by Fontaine. They deal with Fontaine’s speaking engagements, financial disclosure statements and travel.

Biography

Biography

Roger Warren Fontaine (1941-2020) was a former government official, educator, and expert on Latin American affairs and U.S. relations with Latin America.

Mr. Fontaine earned a B.A. degree in 1963 from Valparaiso University. He went on to Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies where he earned an M.A. in 1965 and a Ph. D. in 1970.

While working on his graduate degrees, Fontaine was a researcher for the American Unity (1965); Research Analysis Corporation (1966); Washington Center for Foreign Policy Analysis (1966-1967); Resources for the Future (1967); and the Department of State (1968-1969).

After receiving his graduate degrees, Fontaine was a professor of political science at Middlebury College in Vermont, 1969-1972. Returning to Washington, DC, Fontaine was a researcher for the Washington Center for Foreign Policy Research. He was a contract researcher for the American Enterprise Institute and for the Institute for Defense Analysis from 1973 to 1974. From 1974 to 1980, Mr. Fontaine was Director of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Fontaine served as Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute from 1980 to 1981.

During this time, Fontaine's writings on Latin and Central America came to the attention of Ronald Reagan. For his 1976 presidential candidacy and more specifically during his preparation for a 1980 run for the president, Fontaine became an advisor to Reagan and his campaign on Latin American affairs. He particularly advised on the surrendering of U.S. control over the Panama Canal.

Roger W. Fontaine was assigned to the National Security Council in February, 1981 as Director of the day-to-day tasks involving U.S. national security policy for Latin America. At the start of the Reagan Administration, Fontaine was the Director of Inter-American Affairs under the old Office of Political Affairs. When the NSC converted to region-based directorates, Mr. Fontaine was the Director of the Latin American Directorate. Fontaine left his position at the National Security Council in late 1983.

Fontaine's other professional work included serving as the diplomatic correspondence with Tiempos del Mundo, and as a consultant to the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States.

Fontaine wrote often on Latin American affairs, some of his titles include: Latin America: Struggle for Progress; U.S.-Cuban Relations: A New, New Look; Terrorism: The Cuban Connection; and Central America: A Political Strategic Assessment. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times; The Christian Science Monitor, Strategic Review, and Foreign Policy.

Fontaine became a professor at the Institute of World Politics (IWP), a graduate school of national security, intelligence, and international affairs in Washington, DC and Reston, VA. IWP was founded by a fellow NSC staff member, John Lenczowski in 1990. Roger Fontaine passed away on November 5, 2020. Numerous memorials from fellow Reagan Administration officials were posted in the obituary notice on the IWP website.

Record Type

Textual

Last Modified Date

2025-01-02

WHORM Alpha File

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Fontaine, Roger W.: Files, 1981-1983

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