26 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL strong leadership to the American presence abroad. The people in foreign affairs must be imaginative in the use of new ideas and new techniques. They must be supported, in turn, with the most modern of the country’s technology.” What emerged in the platform as published on Aug. 5 was the following felicitous language: “In the development and execution of the nation’s foreign policy our career Foreign Service officers play a critical role. We strongly support the Foreign Service and will strengthen it by improving its efficiency and administration and providing adequate allowances for its personnel.” “AFSA and the Election” October 1968, Journal Editorial Now that we are in the midst of another Presidential election campaign, it is timely and perhaps desirable to remind ourselves that professional members of the foreign services will serve the next President, whoever he may be. AFSA is therefore taking no position on the merits of the candidates or parties. Nor is it taking a position on the substance of any of the foreign policy issues being debated in the election campaign. At the same time, AFSA has strong views about the nature and organization of the foreign affairs part of the executive branch and about the foreign services which it represents. We have stated these views to the platform committees of both major parties, as reported in the September Association News section and will continue to attempt to impress both parties and their candidates with our seriousness of purpose in working for an improved professional foreign service. We will enlist their cooperation and support for our efforts. We believe these efforts are in the nation’s interest and transcend partisan activity. “Change” December 1968, Journal Editorial Next month a new administration will be installed in Washington. We join all other Americans in extending our best wishes to Mr. Nixon. Surely the quantity, complexity and magnitude of the problems he will face, and their implications for our nation and the world, require the best efforts of everyone to seek and implement the wisest solutions. We commend the extensive efforts which have been made to ensure the orderly transfer of responsibility from the outgoing to the incoming Administration. Such a positive approach to transition is a professional response to practical needs which can go far to mitigate the difficulties of adjusting to change. The President-elect should have no doubt that he will have the complete loyalty of the career professionals of the Foreign Service. He can also be certain that the professionals stand ready to assist him in improving the conduct of our foreign relations. The report to the Association’s Board, “Toward a Modern Diplomacy,” provides an indication of our interest and of the direction of our thinking. In an atmosphere of change, the report offers some constructive suggestions. It shows that we don’t mind the heat in the kitchen. And we are encouraged by the support given us in the Republican Party Platform of last August. 1977: GERALD FORD TO JIMMY CARTER “Open Letter to the President-elect” December 1976, AFSA Editorial On behalf of the American Foreign Service Association, and at the direction of its Governing Board, I am writing to congratulate you on your election. For more than 50 years our Association has been the principal professional representative of Foreign Service people. And under Executive Order 11636 (Employee-Management Relations in the Foreign Service of the United States of America) we are the elected representative of the Foreign Service in the Department of State and the Agency for International Development. In that capacity we participate in consultations with management on personnel policies and working conditions. Historians tell us that successive Presidents have taken office with a distrust for the career Foreign Service, believing it to be stuffed with holdovers from the previous Administration who want to make him look bad, and mandarins who regard him as an interloper in foreign policy matters. In fact, the Foreign Service which we represent is a non-partisan professional cadre that works for only one President at a time, fully
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