THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 35 Daniel Evensen is a Foreign Service officer currently on detail with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. His prior Foreign Service assignments include Shenyang, Ottawa, Beijing, and the Office for Monitoring and Combatting Trafficking in Persons in Washington, D.C. Stories from past presidential transitions, as told by Foreign Service officers who worked through them. COMPILED BY DANIEL EVENSEN Working a Presidential Transition FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNTS Throughout the storied history of the U.S. Foreign Service, career diplomats have dealt with periods of political transition with professionalism and flexibility. The oral history collection managed by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) contains numerous personal accounts of successful transitions told by diplomats who used the transition of power from one administration to another as an opportunity to recommend new initiatives and policy changes that would increase efficiency and fix problems. From the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to the inauguration of President George W. Bush in 2001, the stories that follow, taken from ADST’s archives, demonstrate how skilled Foreign Service officers have used past presidential transitions to advance the work of American diplomacy. The following excerpts from ADST’s oral histories have been lightly edited for clarity. For more fascinating firsthand accounts from practitioners in the field, go to https://adst.org/oral-history/. ON TRANSITIONS FOCUS
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