The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014 29 Service at Work (iUniverse, 2004); and, with Dayton Mak, of American Ambassadors in a Troubled World (Praeger, 1992). He has received the Foreign Service Cup, the Cyrus R. Vance Award for Advancing Knowledge of American Diplomacy, the For- rest C. Pogue Award from the Mid-Atlantic Region Oral History Association and a special citation from the American Academy of Diplomacy. Early in his Foreign Service career, Stu Kennedy realized that there was no real record of the work of U.S. diplomats. As a result, their fellow Americans have no idea of these individu- als’ many contributions and sacrifices, and suffer from serious misconceptions about what Foreign Service members do. In creating the ADST Oral History Program, he has made an enormous contribution to public understanding of American diplomatic history and the crucial role the Foreign Service has played in advancing U.S. interests around the world. On June 20, Foreign Service Journal Editor Shawn Dorman sat down with Stu Kennedy to talk about his life and career. Shawn Dorman: Congratulations on winning AFSA’s 2014 Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award. Every- one was thrilled by the choice. Stu Kennedy: Obviously, I’m delighted and honored, and a little bit overawed. I am very thankful to AFSA for doing this. By the way, since this is effectively an oral history, I should note that today is June 20, 2014. SD: Right! When I went up to Toronto this past spring for the International Studies Association Convention to represent AFSA and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, seeing the reactions from academics to the oral history collec- tion made me even more aware of just how valuable the oral histories are. They really are a treasure trove of primary-source material—firsthand accounts of diplomatic practice. SK: Yes, it’s like fishing in a barrel. I mean, you take any person involved in foreign affairs and get them to talk about what they’ve done, and they’ve all had remarkable experi- ences. SD: As you say to everyone you interview, let’s start at the beginning. Tell me where you were born and grew up. SK: All right. I was born in Chicago in 1928, just before the Great Depression. That had a profound effect on my family, as it did on so many others. My mother and father separated Charles Stuart Kennedy delivers remarks on receiving AFSA’s 2014 Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy in the State Department’s Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room on June 18. AFSA President Robert J. Silverman, left, and Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, right, applaud. U.S. Department of State