THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 25 duties effectively depends upon the confidence not only of our chiefs but also of the American people. The Journal appreciates the efforts which the present administration has made to sift the truth and combat unfair attacks upon the Service; it hopes for renewed efforts upon the part of a successor administration. We need to develop further between the American people and the Foreign Service a relationship of mutual knowledge, understanding, confidence and respect. Given the role which our country plays today in world affairs, such a relationship must exist. Without it, the Foreign Service cannot do its job. 1961: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER TO JOHN F. KENNEDY “Election Day, 1960” by Gwen Barrows December 1960, Washington Letter To those who sat up all that Tuesday night watching the election returns come in, and there were many, this year’s election will not soon be forgotten. It had all begun easily, with as sunny and mild an Election Day as one could imagine. The voting turnout accordingly was what even seasoned political reporters called fantastically high. … Not until 1 p.m. Wednesday was it announced officially that Senator John F. Kennedy had been elected America’s 35th president. … Of immediate interest, of course, once the election was determined, was in what direction the “New Frontiers” would be pushed? To what extent would the theology of the new prophets be followed? (The Journal has carried some of their views in recent months, including W. W. Rostow and Galbraith.) How many replacements would be taking place, and when? Would “Schedule C” appointments in the Department be filled by political appointees? The so-called “Schedule C” appointments cover some 1,200 jobs in Government, and were set up in 1952 so that a political appointee could have people working under him who would be sympathetic and would carry forward his work. Not long after the election results were firm the Presidentelect in press conference allayed some apprehensions by stating that ambassadorial posts would not necessarily be filled by political appointees, and that provision might be made so that Foreign Service career officers without private means could afford to accept ambassadorial appointments to the large posts. Mort Sahl, satirist of the American political scene, [observed], . . . “What we really need is a man who can stand up to Khrushchev and sit down to Susskind.” And it appears that is what we will have in the very active days ahead. 1969: LYNDON B. JOHNSON TO RICHARD M. NIXON “Republican Platform Committee” September 1968, Association News Lead John Reinhardt, AFSA Vice President, represented the Association in testimony before the Republican Platform Committee in Miami Beach on July 29. He noted that, “no apparent attention is being given to some of the difficult but important problems of organization and personnel—solutions to which we believe will have an important positive impact upon the success of the next Administration’s policies,” adding that the Association believes, “that the professionals in foreign affairs may know better than anyone else what requires improvement.” The Association urged that the Platform Committee include the following language in the platform: “In the face of the increasingly competitive demands upon our resources, it is imperative that the nation insure that the portion of its public revenues devoted to foreign affairs is effectively programed and soundly managed. “The Secretary of State has been delegated great authority to ‘coordinate and direct’ the activities of the many agencies now involved in foreign affairs. To make this authority effective, however, will require significant changes in the organization of the Department of State and the Foreign Service of the United States. “These will include the establishment of a position, perhaps to be called the Permanent Under Secretary, which will combine the functions of planning, resource allocation and evaluation. We recall that a recommendation to this effect was contained in the Herter Committee report some six years ago, but never put into effect. If the Secretary’s leadership role is to be effective, if the often-anarchic operations of independent and semi-independent agencies are to be subordinated to the national interest, they must be directed in the national interest. “In addition, we must return to the concept expressed in the Foreign Service Act of 1946 that the nation speak with but one voice abroad through a single Foreign Service of the United States, safeguarded from abuse by a reconstituted Board of the Foreign Service representing the interests of all the agencies in foreign affairs. “The personnel of the Foreign Service of the United States must be responsive to the technical requirements of specialized agencies, able to observe and report broad political trends faithfully, represent American interests vigorously and provide
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