THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2026 35 through what would become the State Department’s wellknown and widely respected written and oral exams. The Rogers Act started the department on a long journey that—with the exception of certain ambassadorships and other political appointee positions—abandoned the clubby and partisan networks of the spoils system in favor of a competitive selection process. The competitive Foreign Service selection process is undergoing significant change. Rather than the norm of 30 percent of ambassadorial nominations going to political appointees, more than 90 percent of ambassadorships have gone to political appointees in the past year. In addition, a small, opaque, and ideologically aligned society of career officers and political appointees—the so-called “Ben Franklin Fellowship”—surfaced in 2025 to take up senior positions in Washington and overseas, appointments made outside prevailing competitive personnel assignment processes and without transparency. In 2025, for example, one Ben Franklin Fellowship member, an untenured FS-4, even served as acting Director General, a position normally filled by accomplished, multiterm career Foreign Service officers who have reached the rank of ambassador. Finally, recently announced changes to the Foreign Service’s written and oral exams are calling into question whether entry into the Foreign Service—through a rigorous, nonpartisan, evidence- and merit-based process begun more than a century ago—will remain competitive. A Brief History of the Foreign Service Exam To understand the significance of these changes—specifically those to the Foreign Service’s exam-based entry process—a brief review of the history is helpful. The first Foreign Service written and oral exams took place in 1925 and were administered by the Board of Examiners (BEX). Passing the written exam—and in recent years achieving a certain Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) score combined with other evaluative factors—was required to proceed to the oral exam. Of the 199 people who took the written exam that year, only 20 eventually passed both the written and oral exams. The written exam questions were on topics related to economics, political economy, geography, U.S. history and government, the history of different regions of the world important to U.S. interests, and international, maritime, and commercial law. There were also an English composition and comprehension section and a modern language component, including French, German, or Spanish. The oral exam consisted of an interview in which examiners asked questions about general education, culture, current events, and practical experiences. In 1927 BEX authorized the practice of providing general information about the written exam to the public, principally by publishing previous exams as practice tests, something that continues today. Over subsequent decades, the department responded to the United States’ changing role in the world (especially after the end of World War II), the ongoing struggle to cast off the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow, and the necessity to build on the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote with the related obligation to enable equal access to federal employment opportunities. Some notable markers include: • 1946, when a new Foreign Service Act created the Office of the Director General, gave BEX statutory standing, and While he didn’t invent the spoils system, President Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) normalized and popularized it during his presidency as this 1877 political cartoon by Thomas Nast, “Our Civil Service As It Was,” indicates. Though merit system reforms took hold in the 20th century, political patronage remains a serious problem for professional diplomacy and the career Foreign Service. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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