The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 59 n November 1784, a slight, sandy-haired young man arrived in Paris to take up his duties as secretary to the new U.S. minis- ter to France, Thomas Jeffer- son. At 25, William Short had no international experience and had never even set foot outside his native Virginia. But he had the strong support of his new boss: Jefferson had come to con- sider him his “adoptive son.” A frequent visitor to Monticello, Short had accompa- nied Jefferson on his narrow escape from General Banastre Tarleton’s loyalist troops in 1781. And, as a newly minted lawyer, he helped settle the estate of Jefferson’s deceased wife, Martha, to whom Short was related. Thus began the career of one of Amer- ica’s first (more or less) professional diplo- mats. Although he had few qualifications and his appointment was based wholly on his personal relationship with Jefferson, Short learned quickly, became an effective practitioner of his craft and, over the next 11 years, rendered important service to the new American nation. Jefferson was a good judge of talent. Ultimately, however, Short was disap- pointed both in his professional and per- sonal life. This disappointment seems reflected in his portrait by noted Ameri- can painter Rembrandt Peale, which was included in an ex- hibit in the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg in 2008. The museum identified him as “America’s first career diplomat” — a des- ignation that on investigation seems both questionable (there are other potential claimants to that appellation) and not very meaningful (in those days there really were no ca- reer diplomats, at least not in any sense resembling our un- derstanding of that term today). Nevertheless, the portrait piqued my curiosity, and I looked for further information on Short. Thankfully a pro- fessional historian, George Green Shackelford, has done the necessary research and published a biography: Jeffer- son’s Adoptive Son: The Life of William Short, 1759-1848 (University Press of Kentucky, 1993). This profile is based primarily on information in that book, plus an article on “Thomas Jefferson and William Short” published by the James R. Bullington was a Foreign Service officer from 1962 to 1989, serving as ambassador to Burundi and dean of the Senior Seminar among many other postings. After a stint in academia, he was Peace Corps director in Niger from 2000 to 2006 and served as editor of the online professional journal American Diplomacy ( www.americandiplomacy.org ) from 2007 to 2009. Currently retired in Williamsburg, he is a sen- ior fellow at the Joint Forces Staff College. The portrait of William Short (above) by Rembrandt Peale is used by permission of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William&Mary. It was a gift to the college in 1938 by Mary Churchill Short, Fanny Short Butler and William Short. I FS H ERITAGE T HE D IPLOMAT AND THE D UCHESS O NE OF A MERICA ’ S FIRST ( MORE OR LESS ) PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMATS , A J EFFERSON PROTÉGÉ , QUICKLY BECAME AN EFFECTIVE PRACTITIONER OF HIS CRAFT . B Y J AMES R. B ULLINGTON