The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

12 JUNE 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL who knew him and had worked with him. As it turned out, that ruling was a mistake attributable to the department’s mis- handling of his personnel file. Sadly, it was probably a contributing factor in his decision to take his own life. Shortly before his last day in the State Department in 1969, Thomas composed a memo to Secretary of State William Rogers, spelling out the allegations that had been made to him about Lee Harvey Oswald’s Cuban contacts in Mexico City and noting that if these became public without further investigation, they could add fuel to continuing conspiracy theo- ries and undercut the Warren Commis- sion report. State asked the CIA to comment on that memo and his reports. The CIA replied curtly that there was “no need for further action.” The department did not follow up. From interviews Philip Shenon con- ducted for a new 2014 edition of his book, he wrote in The Washington Post on Sept. 24, 2014, that the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories are still alive half a century later and that evenmembers of the Warren Commission staff have come around to believing that Oswaldmay have beenmanipulated, even if he acted alone. Thomas’ warning to Sec. Rogers was prophetic, and it is surely time for the Foreign Service to recognize his heroic persistence and loyalty. We who served with Charles Thomas remember him as a loyal and brilliant colleague, an FSO who deserves to be remembered by the newer generations of the Foreign Service as a devoted American public servant. n Ralph C. (Robin) Porter III FSO, retired Wickford, Rhode Island Take AFSAWith You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037 Moving?