Famous Diplomats

This book spans more than 200 years of U.S. diplomatic history. Its geographical scope widens along with the expanding interests of America itself, from initial exclusive concern with the empires of Europe, to the emerging nations of Latin America, to the commercial opportunities and geopolitical concerns of Asia and Africa. The ambassadors chosen for inclusion reflect these historical changes in American foreign relations. Organized alphabetically, the biographies present an implicit account of the evolution of the U.S. diplomatic service, from its founding and early principles through the 20th century evolution of its habits and culture.

How do American citizens become ambassadors, and how do they serve U.S. interests overseas? What is embassy life really like? How do ambassadors deal with host governments and officials back in Washington? Seventy-four senior diplomats provide real insights and practical lessons into the business of being an American ambassador today in a troubled world. They talk informally about their motivations for a foreign service career, their appointments as ambassadors or senior envoys, their training, the management of an embassy, problems in dealing with heads of state and Washington bureaucracy, serious crises, terrorism, coups, and other violence in the 1970s and 1980s.

A fascinating look at a previously ignored piece of our nation's history, Black Diplomacy covers integration of the State Department after 1945 and the subsequent appointments of Black ambassadors to Third World and African nations. In seven illuminating chapters, Krenn covers the efforts to integrate the State Department; the setbacks during the Eisenhower years; and the gains achieved during the administrations of JFK and LBJ. Not content with simply using traditional sources (federal and other governmental agency records), he gained fresh insights from the papers of the NAACP, African American newspapers, and journals of the period. He also conducted original interviews with Edward Dudley (America's first black ambassador), Richard Fox, Horace Dawson, Ronald Palmer, and Terrence Todman (never before interviewed -- ambassador to six nations beginning in 1952, and an assistant secretary of state). This unique look at the period will be of interest to anyone attempting to understand both the history of the civil rights movement in the U.S. and America's Cold War relations with underdeveloped nations during the quarter century after World War II.

In the 1990s, for the first time, women were in the double digits in the Washington diplomatic corps. Sephocle provides a series of candid conversations with these women ambassadors, and presents a unique window on the world of diplomacy, shattering age-old myths about the frailties and limitations of women.

Introduction by Albert P. Vannucci The Ambassador Simpatico: Dwight Morrow in Mexico by Richard Melzer In Defense of Hegemony: Sumner Welles and the Cuban Revolution of 1933 by Louis Perez Elected by Providence: Spruille Braden in Argentina in 1945 by Albert P. Vannucci Adolf Berle in Brazil: 1945-46 by C. Neale Ronning Lincoln Gordon and Brazil's Military Counterrevolution by Jan Knippers Black In the Years of Salvador Allende by Nathaniel Davis Ambassadors in Foreign Policy by C. Neale Ronning & Albert P. Vannucci Bibliography. Index. About the Editors and Contributors