The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2015

20 JANUARY FEBRUARY 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL and interpreters of their country’s foreign policy. However, diplomacy has never been a popular, or even understood, activity in most Western countries. So, after the remarkable performance of Benjamin Franklin in Paris, the United States pro- ceeded to conduct its diplomacy for more than a century via an ad hoc mixture of personalities chosen largely by means of the political tradition of the “spoils system.” Fortunately, by the early 20th century Americans came to accept the idea of a professional Foreign Service as important to the country’s independent existence. at awareness produced the Rogers Act of 1924, which created the professional Foreign Service of the United States. Changes and reforms were introduced over the rest of the century as the country moved from its traditional policy of hemispheric isolationism to world lead- ership. A Clear Definition e current organization and mission of the Foreign Service were mandated by Congress in the Foreign Service Act of 1980, which states: “A career Foreign Service, character- ized by excellence and professionalism, is essential in the national interest to assist the president and the Secretary of State in conducting the foreign a airs of the United States. “ e scope and complexity of the foreign a airs of the nation have heightened the need for a professional Foreign Service that will serve the foreign a airs interests of the United States in an integrated fashion and that can provide a resource of quali ed personnel for the president, the Secretary of State and the agencies concerned with foreign a airs.” So perhaps the problem of de nition is not really that di cult, after all. We only need to turn to the relevant legisla- tion, and listen to our elected leaders. If Congress understands that the busi- ness of the Foreign Service is to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the United States, and to serve the nation’s foreign a airs interests, why can’t everyone else? n