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[Ken Buckley:] Jim Collins is no stranger to the spotlight.
On at least two occasions, his intelligence and hard work landed him on the global stage.
During watershed moments in history, the steady hand of this former U.S ambassador
to the Russian Federation helped guide our nation's foreign policy
through perilous waters and uncertain times.
[James F. Collins:] I was in charge of the embassy at the end of 1991,
when President Gorbachev fell down the flag and ended the Soviet Union.
And I was in charge of the embassy for a good part of 1992
and they were pretty dramatic moments.
[Ken Buckley:] But before he took his place on the world stage, Jim was a bright student
and a cellist at his Illinois high school.
There he met a music teacher that introduced him to a Russian opera
that sparked a flame that still burns to this day.
[James F. Collins:] I kind of got hooked by the music, the story.
I started to look for a way to learn something about the Russian language.
Now, in North Shore Chicago in the mid-1950s, nobody was teaching Russian.
[Ken Buckley:] As a young man, Jim found a Russian Orthodox minister
who would teach him the language.
Years later, while he was studying Russian history at Harvard, Sputnik was launched
into space and suddenly the Soviet Union had everyone's attention.
[James F. Collins:] The idea I had was basically to pursue the Russian bug.
So, I joined the history faculty at Indiana to pursue a PhD and I was also then a student in,
what at that time, was a complimentary program that you were part of at the Russian
and East European Institute that was led by Professor Burns.
[Nick Cullather:] He and Robert Gates the former Secretary of Defense were both students
under Robert Burns and both got Master's degrees here at Indiana University before going
on to really distinguished careers in diplomacy and public service.
And you know, his knowledge of culture, the language, his comfort level in being
in Russia all of which began during his time at IU.
[Ken Buckley:] IU opened many doors for the future Ambassador
but foremost among them might have been the opportunity for his wife to pursue a PhD
in history, giving Naomi Collins the tools to pursue a career in her own right.
[Naomi Collins:] So, I've remained grateful all of these years and we've tried to give back
to IU what we can because it was so special at the time to get that opportunity.
[Ken Buckley:] Throughout the 70s and 80s, Jim found himself, as he seems to do over
and over again, at the center of so much history
from the Middle East to Latin America and Africa.
[Lee Feinstein:] What distinguishes good policy from policy
that is not adequately informed is knowledge of place
and for his entire career Ambassador Collins has understood the importance of deep knowledge
of a society and culture, its languages, its history, its politics to forming good policy.
[James F. Collins:] We were basically in charge of setting up relations
with the Russian Federation, the new Russia.
Russia was also a new state it had borders it had never had before.
It had new issues it had never dealt with before.
What it amounted to was that I was the senior policy officer geographically for all
of the former Soviet space except the three Baltic States.
[Ken Buckley:] In 1997, Jim was tapped as the U.S ambassador to the Russian Federation,
bringing years of experience, knowledge of the region, and his deft diplomacy to the role.
[James F. Collins:] It's a heady experience, I won't deny it.
You know, I mean, to be Ambassador at a post like Moscow,
which at that time probably was the premier embassy, was really quite something.
We had an aid budget of several hundred million that was engaged in everything from assistance
to Public Health to economic reform
to governance practice to setting up the stock market.
[Ken Buckley:] After years of service at the highest level, he found his way back to IU,
serving on the Dean's Advisory Council for the Hamilton Luger School
of Global and International Studies.
[James F. Collins:] Indiana has-- is also something of a home for us.
We were married in Beck Chapel.
You know, we started our lives together at Indiana.
[Ken Buckley:] And in his role on the Advisory Council, he's creating opportunities
and setting an example for a whole new class of IU graduates.
[Susan Elliott:] What's really exciting for me to see is that he can have an influence
on the next generation of people involved in international affairs, in foreign policy
and hopefully ones who would want to serve in the U.S government.
[James F. Collins:] [ Speaking Russian ]
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