The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2016 11 a strategic framework to keep our training up to date with the rapidly evolving international environment. It will be up to all of us in the Foreign Service to continue to promote a culture of lifelong professional training in this organization—across service backgrounds and with the commitment of mentors, supervisors and learners—so that our diplomacy works most effec- tively for the interests of the American people. Note: The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of State or U.S. government. Alicia Allison, FSO David Gehrenbeck, FSO Paul Kreutzer, FSO Arlington, Virginia The Power of Exchanges Following the December FSJ focus on the International Visitor Leadership Program, I’d like to share a story of the impact of one exchange. Back in the mid-1980s, U.S. Informa- tion Service Lahore identified a candidate for the International Visitor Program, a young man with a promising future in Pakistani business and good political connections. He participated in a month- long program in the United States with grantees from around the world. In the debriefing following his return to Pakistan, he enthusiastically praised the content and organization of the visit and could find no real negatives. When the formal debriefing ended, after making sure my office door was closed, he said, “Now, let me tell you about the most wonderful part of my visit.” He proceeded to describe how he had been aghast to find that he was assigned to a working group that included a man from Israel. “I was tempted to withdraw from the grant. In growing up, I had learned terrible things about the hated Jews.” But he decided to see how things would work out. “You will never believe what happened then,” he recounted. “It wasn’t long before I came to appreciate the mind and character of this fellow. Working together, he and I became close colleagues, even friends.” Before he left my office he asked, “Would you please mail a letter that I have written to my Israeli friend? It’s impossible for me to communicate directly with him from here.” Robert R. Gibbons FSO, retired Mesa, Arizona CORRECTION Our FS Heritage in the March issue, “FS Personnel Evaluations, 1925-1955: A Unique View” by Nicholas J. Willis, did not include a photo of the author. Instead, the photo on page 60 of the print edition is of Maxwell J. Hamilton, an FSO and co-author of the October FS Heritage piece, “Taking Stock of Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes.” Nicholas Willis, shown here, is the nephew of Frances Elizabeth Willis, the third woman to join the Foreign Service and the first woman to make it a career, rising to the rank of Career Ambassador in 1962. Willis is the author of Frances Eliza- beth Willis (2013), a biography of his aunt. We apologize to Nicholas Willis, Max- well J. Hamilton and our readers for the mix-up. n