The Foreign Service Journal, October 2003

scale selection-out would be the answer, and persuaded then-Under- secretary for Administration Idar Rimestad to require a large number of FSOs who had not been recently pro- moted to retire between 1968 and 1972. Their mentor was Ambassador Graham Martin, who chaired the committee that produced the 1968 “manifesto” described by Tex Harris. Martin was well known as a strong critic of both Wristonization and Henderson. The Young Turks essentially mounted a revolution against the Loy Henderson concept of professional diplomacy. The key issue was whether FSOs with distinguished records of service should be routinely forced into premature retirement in their prime. As State’s top management officer in the late 1950s, Amb. Henderson had steadfastly refused, as a matter of prin- ciple, to terminate the careers of FSOs merely because they “failed” to reach promotion after a specified number of years. Henderson never counte- nanced substandard performance or disloyalty, but he believed so-called “efficiency reports,” selection boards, and personnel operations were griev- ously flawed. The AFSA elections in the ensu- ing years afforded no opportunity to debate or even discuss these mat- ters, which have continued to cast a dark shadow over the Foreign Service. As one of the independent candidates seeking election in 1971 (see p. 31 of Boyatt’s article), I was appalled to learn I had only one minute to present my views at the one and only campaign meeting authorized that year. Over the years, the majority of AFSA members have known of the damage to U. S. foreign affairs and countless diplomats that resulted from the arbitrary dismissal of excellent FSOs. It’s no coincidence that the credibility and luster of the Foreign Service became tarnished during that same period. Some established reporters (Taylor Branch, William Greider, Clark Mollenhoff, Dan Thomasson, and Sarah McClendon, for example) cap- tured bits and pieces of this saga in the early 1970s, but the real history of AFSA and the Foreign Service since World War II is yet to be told. The June issue did not even reveal the tip of the iceberg! John Harter FSO, retired Virginia Beach, Va. ■ O C T O B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 L E T T E R S