The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2003

arry Eagleburger, Chas Freeman, Arthur Hartman, Robert and Phyllis Oakley, Robert Strauss, Terry Todman, John Whitehead — these are but a few of the American diplomats whose sto- ries can be found in the Diplomatic Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. The col- lection has grown considerably since the Foreign Service Journal last profiled ADST (“In Their Own Words,” May 1999). In addition to recording oral histories, the association increases knowledge of U.S. diplomacy though its book pub- lishing program, which includes such authors as former ambassadors Herman J. Cohen, James Goodby, Francis Terry McNamara, and Robert H. Miller. It also produces exhibits, and inspired the “Brief History of American Diplomacy” exhibit on long-term display in the State Department’s central hall and at the Foreign Service Institute. (See sidebar, p. 52.) ADST was founded in 1986 to enhance training at FSI and advance understanding of U.S. diplomacy. Although it is located at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center, it is a private, nonprofit organization. This special public-private partnership links ADST with U.S. diplomats and the profession of diplomacy, past, present and future. Providing a Legacy Under the direction of retired senior FSO Stu Kennedy and with the assistance of a small staff and a few volunteers and interns, the personal oral histories of more than 1,400 former career Foreign Service members and political appointees have been recorded thus far. These efforts pre- serve for posterity and future historians diplomatic experi- ences and insights that would otherwise be lost. The process continues daily and involves hours of interviews, recording on audiotape, editing by the interviewee and a volunteer editor, corrections, and final transfer to disk and hard copy. Some 1,300 of the interviews are available to the public on three CD-ROMs produced by ADST. In a major new development, ADST plans to begin putting the entire cur- rent collection and future interviews on the Internet in 2004 at the Web site of the Library of Congress (loc.gov) for free access by the public. ADST has consistently stressed the importance of having a thriving oral history program to provide a legacy for 48 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 3 Ambassador Kenneth L. Brown has been the president of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) since May 2001. His many overseas postings as a career FSO from 1961 to 1995 included ambassadorships in Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. In Washington, he served as deputy director of U.N. Political Affairs, associate spokesman for the State Department, director of the Office of Central African Affairs, and deputy assistant secretary for African Affairs. After retir- ing from the Foreign Service in 1995, he was director of the Dean Rusk Program in International Studies at Davidson College until 2001. Veda Engel has been on detail from the State Department as executive director of ADST since July 2002. After accompanying her husband on five assign- ments overseas, she became a career member of the Civil Service. Before joining ADST she was the branch chief of the Recruitment Division in State’s Bureau of Human Resources. She has also served as deputy editor of State magazine and as a Navy Department editor. B Y K ENNETH L. B ROWN AND V EDA E NGEL S TILL T ELLING T HEIR S TORIES : ADST’ S O RAL H ISTORY P ROGRAM T HE A SSOCIATION FOR D IPLOMATIC S TUDIES AND T RAINING IS ABOUT TO GO ONLINE WITH ITS EVER - GROWING COLLECTION OF ORAL HISTORIES . H ERE ARE SOME EXCERPTS . L