The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

establish connections throughout State. He organized a group of 18 officers (staff, as specialists then were called, were not included) at junior, middle and senior grades from State, USIA, and USAID to run as a slate for AFSA’s electoral college, pledging to choose AFSA’s board from among themselves. “I got the AFSA bylaws,” Walker said in a recent interview, “and saw there was provision for a write-in ballot.” Among us, “we knew at least one person in nearly every mission we had,” which enhanced the prospects for success of a write-in cam- paign. Walker’s fellow reformer, Charles Bray, had become staff assistant to Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Foy Kohler, then serving as AFSA’s president. Bray helped to secure Kohler’s support for the effort and his pledge to stay on as president if the reformers were successful. As the reformers moved from internal debate to politi- cal action, their objectives became more concrete and more sharply focused on the interests of AFSA members. Their cam- paign platform made no reference to the Foreign Service Act of 1946 or the desirability of an independent Foreign Service. It instead called for defending the professional interests of AFSA’s members, and advancing their personal well-being. AFSA, the group’s platform declared, “can and should expect to be heard” on personnel and administrative policies. Members “should be able to bring their professional griev- ances and problems to the association” and receive “prompt and energetic assistance.” Employees of USAID and USIA “can and should expect equal privileges and representation” with employees of State. About 200 candidates were listed on the ballot; another 46, including eight of Walker’s Group of 18, competed for write-in votes. When the balloting ended on Sept. 10, 1967, the entire Group of 18 had won election; even the least-supported among them had been named on 507 of the 1,782 ballots cast. The group met as the electoral college on Sept. 18 and named Lannon Walker, then an FS-5 (equivalent to today’s FS-3), chairman of the board. Control of AFSA thereby passed to the reformers. Building Momentum for Change Over the next two years, AFSA pushed hard on all fronts: for sweeping reform of the Foreign Service, notably with publi- cation of the study Toward a Modern Diplomacy in 1968; for recognition and enhancement of the Service’s professional standing, with greater openness and protection for construc- tive dissent from administration policy; for more generous and equitable policies on allowances and leave, and more transpar- ent policies on assignments and promotions; and for changes in AFSA’s bylaws to democratize the organization, improve its governance and strengthen its finances. The new board also bought the building at 2101 E Street NW, putting to rest the old jab that AFSA’s headquarters could not be located. the Foreign Service journal | April 2013 25 FSJ Archives The “Bray Board,” headed by Lannon Walker’s fellow reformer, Charles W. Bray III, steered AFSA from January through December of 1970. The board participated in Toward A Modern Diplomacy and prepared the way for AFSA’s later victories in representation elections and negotiations with management. Pictured here, from left to right, are: George B. Lambrakis, Alan Carter, Erland Heginbotham, Barbara Good, Richard T. Davies III, Bray, William G. Bradford, Princeton Lyman, William Harrop and Robert Nevitt.