“On a crisp London day in the autumn of 1780 a thickset, firm-jawed South Carolinian stood unhappily beside the Thames River, looking upward at the stones of the ancient fortress known as the Tower of London.” A historical snapshot often does not capture the full picture. This certainly applies to the article “Henry of the Tower” by former Foreign Service Officer Ralph Hilton, published in the June 1969 Foreign Service Journal and excerpted in the June 2019 edition. Hilton introduces the American envoy Henry Laurens in a heroic pose, as described above, and proceeds to tell his saga, asserting that “with honor and sacrifice,” Laurens helped “to lay the cornerstone” of our Foreign Service. Revisited today, Hilton’s assessment does not stand up to scrutiny. Thomas N. Hull was ambassador to Sierra Leone (2004-2007), where he had earlier been a Peace Corps volunteer. He served as director of African affairs at the U.S. Information Agency, deputy chief of mission in Addis Ababa, and public affairs officer in Pretoria, Prague, Lagos, Mogadishu, and Ouagadougou. After retiring from State in 2007, he served as a WAE (rehired annuitant) adviser to the president of Malawi, Warburg Professor of International Relations at Simmons University, and president of Foreign Affairs Retirees of New England. Henry of the Tower REVISITED FS HERITAGE It’s time to take another look at how we remember 18th-century American envoy Henry Laurens. BY THOMAS N. HULL 40 JUNE 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL ISTOCK.COM/PESKYMONKEY
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