THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2026 41 Security Council Resolution 678 authorizing the international community to “use all necessary means” to restore Kuwait’s borders. Thanks to Pickering’s efforts, 33 other nations joined U.S. forces in the liberation of Kuwait. “We had shown,” Pickering remembers, “that the UN Security Council could be a force to support and strengthen American policy.” Negotiating Terms of Peace When the United States finally defeated the British, Franklin joined the delegation that negotiated a just peace. He rejected proposals for reparations to British loyalists and smoothed France’s ruffled feathers as talks proceeded without them. After the 1783 Treaty of Paris was signed and ratified, Franklin sent England’s ratification back to Congress, writing: “Thus the great and hazardous enterprise we have been engaged in, is, God be praised, happily completed.” America had gone from a rebellion to a republic. Miriam Sapiro, a legal expert on the State Department’s Policy Planning staff, joined the U.S. negotiating team at the Dayton peace talks in 1995. She helped craft an agreement to end the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the challenge was daunting. “We knew there needed to be a new constitution. There needed to be elections. We needed to protect human rights. There would be refugee issues, displaced persons issues, national monuments. … We were really starting from scratch thinking about what could help end this conflict and make Bosnia a country that could one day succeed. That’s what made it so interesting and challenging. We did a lot of drafting, redrafting, negotiating, redrafting, brainstorming, redrafting, negotiating.” After 21 exhausting days, the warring parties finally reached an agreement. But when representatives of the multinational Contact Group gathered to initial as witnesses, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov hesitated. “He said, ‘I cannot initial,’” Sapiro recalls, “‘because it refers to NATO in Annex One.’ And I said, ‘Well, the cameras are rolling. It’s a little bit late to raise that objection now. So I suggest you initial, and you can raise questions before the signing ceremony in Paris.’ So he initialed, but wrote ‘except for 1A.’ It’s ironic because if you actually looked at the annex, it talked about NATO states and non-NATO states cooperating. [The administration] worked hard to find a way for Russian troops to serve alongside American troops in Bosnia. And it worked.” As America’s first official envoy to a foreign government, Franklin crossed the Atlantic with few instructions and even fewer resources. A Lasting Legacy Benjamin Franklin set the standard for modern diplomatic practitioners, and his wisdom continues to resonate. In the same letter that accompanied the ratified peace treaty back to Philadelphia, Franklin left a prescient warning: “Our future safety will depend on our union and virtue. … If we do not convince the world that we are a nation to be depended on for fidelity in treaties, if we appear negligent in paying our debts, and ungrateful to those who have served and befriended us, our reputation, and all the strength it is capable of procuring, will be lost, and fresh attacks upon us will be encouraged and promoted.” n In 2012 the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training adopted “Cool Ben,” America’s envoy in Paris sporting shades, as an emblem of the organization and its mission. ADST
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