The Foreign Service Journal, February 2004

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43 tarting with a letter to the editor in 1938, containing an eminently practical proposal to AFSA concerning Foreign Service housing, George Kennan has made many contributions to the Foreign Service Journal over the years. These contributions varied greatly — from an essay, “Russia and the Alaska Purchase,” based on documents from the archives of the Tsarist government, to an official report, “The Internment and Repatriation of the American Official Group in Germany, 1941-1942,” pre- pared by then-First Secretary George F. Kennan. They also included several reprints. In June 1953, the Journal reprinted “Education for Statesmanship,” which had been featured in the Atlantic Monthly a month earlier. “The Future of Our Professional Diplomacy,” Kennan’s commentary on the Wriston Committee’s report on the state of the Foreign Service, was reprinted from Foreign Affairs in September 1955, along with a response to Kennan by Dr. Wriston. Starting in August 1963, the Journal carried the three- part “World Problems and America’s Administrative Response,” an article focused on government bureaucra- cy and the status of foreign policy-making that had been written by Kennan for a scholarly discussion in May 1957. In March 1961, the Journal addressed the “fashionable and serious topic” of foreign policy planning at State. The views of those who had directed the Policy Planning Staff until then were featured: Mr. Kennan was first, and, not surprisingly, most succinct. Here are excerpts from five other articles by Mr. Kennan that appeared in the Journal . May 1947 — University Education and the Foreign Service While deputy for foreign affairs at the then two- month-old National War College, Career Minister George F. Kennan addressed the Princeton University Bicentennial Conference on University Education and the Public Service. The entire address was published in the Foreign Service Journal. Here is an excerpt, on the education required for a Foreign Service officer. … It is my own belief that full success in Foreign Service, and by that I mean the attainment of really high value to the government, requires an educational back- ground considerably wider than what is afforded by the normal undergraduate training. A successful represen- tative abroad should be not only better educated with respect to the world outside the borders of the United States, but he should also have an exceptional under- standing of his own country. He should be better T HOUGH VARIED , THE CONTRIBUTIONS OVER THE YEARS OF THIS SCHOLAR AND DIPLOMAT ALL FEATURE HIS CHARACTERISTICALLY TRENCHANT ANALYSIS AND PASSION FOR THE F OREIGN S ERVICE . B Y S USAN M AITRA F O C U S O N G E O R G E K E N N A N S G EORGE K ENNAN IN THE FSJ : A C OMPILATION OF HIS W RITINGS