THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2024 37 “Show Me the Law … !” A month or so before we were married [in 1959], I was summoned to the executive director’s office in the Economic Bureau. The executive director congratulated me on my engagement, and I was touched. My goodness, how nice. And then she said, “When do you plan to resign, Miss Greer?” And I said, “I don’t plan to resign.” … No woman had ever done this in the history of the Foreign Service. She said, “Miss Greer, you are required to resign.” I said, “Show me the regulation. Show me the law. Where is it?” Well, there wasn’t one. It was custom, plain old custom. —Elinor Constable, FSO and FS spouse, from “Challenging Tradition,” March 2016 FSJ. 1958 1959 The Desk Officer —Robert Elder, Colgate University professor on Ford Foundation fellowship at State, May 1958 FSJ. Chairman of the Board Tyler Thompson said that the association should not act “as a militant trade union type of organization,” and the loyalty of the Foreign Service to the Secretary “precludes any action which would run counter to his decisions.” —Harry Kopp, The Voice of the Foreign Service (2024). 1956 Junior FSOs at State form the Junior Foreign Service Officers Club (JFSOC).
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