The Foreign Service Journal, February 2011

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 ithout my realizing it at the time, the 1960s and early 1970s shaped the foundations of my thinking about U.S. economic diplomacy. The presidency of John F. Kennedy provided the “Sputnik moment” for reinvigorating the competitiveness of the American economy, while the conflict in Vietnam forced me and others to reflect on the trade-offs between guns and butter. And President Richard Nixon’s decision to take the United States off the gold standard made my graduate school program in international economics feel much less abstract and theoretical. F OCUS ON THE E CONOMIC /C OMMERCI AL F UNCT ION U.S. E CONOMIC D IPLOMACY : T HE N EXT 50 Y EARS A DISTINGUISHED PRACTITIONER EXPLAINS WHY INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ISSUES ARE NOW CENTRAL TO U.S. FOREIGN POLICY . B Y A LAN L ARSON Jane Sterrett W