The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

A FSA is proud to honor the winners of the2008ConstructiveDissent and Outstanding PerformanceAwards. The awards were presented on Thursday, June 19 at a ceremony in the Benjamin FranklinDiplomaticReceptionRoomat the Department of State. This ceremonymarks the 40thanniver- sary of AFSA’s dissent awards program, which began in 1968 with the William R. RivkinAward forConstructiveDissent (see below). Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Boyatt was selected for the annual Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy, and the award was presented by Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Pickering. Previous recipients include U. Alexis Johnson, Frank Carlucci, George H.W. Bush, LawrenceEagleburger, CyrusVance, David Newsom, Lee Hamilton, Thomas Pickering, George Shultz, Richard Parker, Senator Richard Lugar,MortonAbramo- witz and Joan Clark. During adistinguished26-year Foreign Service career, Amb. Boyatt served as am- bassador to Cyprus and Colombia. He received a Meritorious Honor Award in 1969 for heroism during the hijacking of a TWA plane, and earned both the WilliamR. Rivkin andChristianA.Herter Awards for constructive dissent. Amb. Boyatt served as president of AFSA, and continues to devote countless hours to strengthening the ForeignService in retire- 2008 DISSENT AND PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS Dissenters Honored with AFSA Awards J U L Y - A UGU S T 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 59 O ur father, William R. Rivkin, died suddenly in Dakar on March 19, 1967, while serving as ambassador to Senegal. Upon the news of his death, dozens of friends, colleagues and admirers spontaneouslyofferedtodonate inhisname to the cause of our mother Enid’s choos- ing. After attending to the difficult task of adjusting herself and four young children to a new life stateside, Enid began to focus on how to best memorialize her husband. In conjunction with our uncle, Donald Rivkin, Eniddecided that themost appro- priate legacy would be to encourage Foreign Service officers to tell truth to power. Bill Rivkin, like President John F. Kennedywho first appointedhimambas- sador, relished open, respectful debate as the best path to sounddecisionmaking. A former national collegiate debating cham- pion, Bill had no use for “yes men” — bureaucrats whose narrow conception of duty and lack of courage incline them to agree reflexivelywithanyopinionexpressed by their boss. He was delighted to find in the Foreign Service many fine profession- als willing to speak up when they felt their chief ofmissionwasmistaken. Billwas con- cerned, however, that unless the Foreign Service as an institution encouraged these officers’ best instincts and let them know ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WILLIAM R. RIVKIN AWARD Telling Truth to Power BY ROBERT AND CHARLES RIVKIN Continued on page 62 Continued on page 72 Amb. and Mrs. William Rivkin with Pres. John F. Kennedy. Inside This Issue: BRIEFS: AGGELER’S LIFE IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE .....................................60 VP STATE: OPEN SEASON FOR CHEAP SHOTS....................................61 HERTER AWARD: AMBASSADOR JEFFREY FELTMAN......................................63 RIVKIN AWARD: RACHEL SCHNELLER...........64 HARRIMAN AWARD: LUKE ZAHNER.........65 POST REP OF THE YEAR: JULIE EADEH ....66 GUESS AWARD: CRAIG GERARD...............66 DELAVAN AWARD: VIRGINIA GREGORY ...67 BOHLEN AWARD: VICTOR WILLIAMS.......67 AFSA 2008 MERIT SCHOLARS ..................68 WINNING SCHOLAR ESSAY .......................70 ISSUE BRIEF: FS RESOURCE NEEDS..........71 CLASSIFIEDS ..........................................72 American Foreign Service Association • July-August 2008 AFSA NEWS