The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2015 73 An Insider’s Look at How U.S. Ambassadors Are Selected On June 11, AFSA welcomed Ambassador (ret.) Dennis Jett to discuss his new book, American Ambassadors: The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Diplomats (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). The book offers an insider’s look at the evolution of the ambassadorial selection process and the debate over political appointees’ qualifi- cations for the job. Jett provided historical background on the earliest U.S. ambassadors, explaining that in the late 19th century, the general attitude toward diplomats was that “anyone could do it, with a little on- the-job training.” However, that didn’t stop many from coveting the role, such as Charles Guiteau, who assas- Ambassador Dennis Jett suggests language testing for chief-of-mission candidates and publishing their scores for consideration during the confirmation process. AFSA/BRITTANYDELONG Continued on page 74 sinated President James Garfield when he was denied a diplomatic post in Vienna. This event gave birth to a reform movement that led to passage of the Pendleton and Rogers Acts. According to Jett, these acts changed the system to ensure that people are hired and promoted on the basis of merit. Jett then turned to today’s process, describing the dif- ferent paths to ambassador- ship taken by career diplo- mats and political appointees and how their appointment ratios have fluctuated by administration. Responding to a review in The Foreign Service Journal’ s April issue, which faulted American Ambassadors for