100 MAY-JUNE 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL excerpt where our ambassador in Argentina recalls his experience promoting rock diplomacy with household name bands in the 2000s. Some of the most moving entries are from officers engaged in assisting Americans. They shine throughout, from an ambassador’s fight against implicit racism to evacuate Black Americans from Liberia in 1989 and the rescue of thousands of AmerAsian children abandoned in Vietnam, to assistance for American women trapped in abusive marriages in Ethiopia and Iran in the 1970s. Our ambassador in Tanzania in 1975 negotiated the release of four Americans kidnapped by Congolese rebels only to be recalled for “interfering” with Zaire, whose support was needed in Angola. As for national economic security, well, the Foreign Service has always been there. In 1930s Bogotá, an office manager took on economic work, and her description of what an economic/ commercial section does could have been written today. The contributions of Foreign Service officers to negotiating global trade agreements are legion. The book closes with a selection of fun or enlightening stories the team came across in assembling this book—from the whimsical (a State Department officer in 1942 explaining to the Joint Chiefs of Staff how to use elephants for logistics in Thailand) to the gut-wrenching (working the 2021 evacuation from Kabul airport). Representing America reminds Americans of the rich diplomatic heritage we have as a nation. While this book does not gloss over our mistakes or faults, it allows us to celebrate the U.S. Foreign Service as it is—a selfless, dedicated, professional, informed, and deeply patriotic community. And that includes all of us, not just in the past but now and in the future. n P. Michael McKinley is a retired Foreign Service officer who served as ambassador to Peru, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Brazil, and as senior adviser to the Secretary of State before resigning in 2019.
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