

It is remarkable to think that there have been three female Secretaries of State: Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.  However, the Foreign Service was not always so accommodating to women. Times were quite different in the Mad Men era — including the assumption that women should resign from the Service once they got married — as these three women point out in excerpts from their oral histories.

Susan Klingaman entered the Service in 1966 and served in several posts, including Bonn. Elizabeth Ann Swift entered the Foreign Service in 1963 and served in Indonesia and Iran. Arma Jane Karaer would become Ambassador to Papua New Guinea in 1997. All three were interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy; Klingaman in 1998, Swift in 1992, and Karaer in 2004.

Women in the Foreign Service – You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!

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In the 1960s, U.S. foreign policy had two bugbears: the Soviet Union and Cuba. The United States wished to prevent another Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro’s rise to power, through policies like the Alliance for Progress. As the United States continued to worry about potential leftist revolutions across the region, Ecuador became a setting for this battle over hearts and minds. 

Dealing with a Leftist Dipsomaniac: The United States and Ecuador’s Carlos Arosemena



Distinguished American diplomat Tex Harris recounts attempted intimidation by Argentine security forces in 1977, at the height of that country’s “Dirty War.” From the series "Tales of American Diplomacy" by the Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training. Because diplomacy matters now more than ever.

Tex Harris Keep Your Hands Above Your Head



 

Women have been a fundamental part of the Foreign Service in both visible and invisible ways since its founding, making countless contributions.  These are the stories of trailblazing women in the Foreign Service and how they paved the way for the present.

Relationships - Women in the Foreign Service

 

 

 Brunei, one of the smallest, yet richest states in the world, is located on the island of Borneo, in the Indonesian archipelago.  Fewer than 500,000 people  live within its 22,00 square miles.  A new constitution in 1959 declared Brunei a self-governing state, while entrusting conduct of its foreign affairs to the United Kingdom.  Until 1994, when it asserted full independence.  Learn more about this modern-day sultanate.

Brunei



Nixon's "jowls were wobbling in anger" when a young foreign service officer, during Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China, saved the President from embarrassment by refusing to interpret. Here is the story.

Women in the Foreign Service – You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!

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