THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 59 Although the Foreign Service has friends and supporters, we also have obstinate enemies who dislike us viscerally for who we are. With such enemies there’s no arguing, no reasoning, and no convincing. One of their carps (among many) is that we take our oath of office seriously and—whatever our personal opinions—carry out the policies of the administration in service to the American people. We serve presidents and Secretaries of both parties and are responsible for providing the most accurate information and best advice possible. Lacking jets, tanks, and warships to “persuade,” our tools are measured words, listening, empathy, and patience. We talk to the rascals and scoundrels who occupy thrones and palaces around the world. Our values and ethos, however, have not always endeared us to those pseudo-machos seeking to look tough, discredit a predecessor, and silence dissent. And in today’s political bear pit, public servants—both Civil Service and Foreign Service—have become a particular target. Readers may not always agree with Scott Anderson’s analysis, but in King of Kings, he tells a riveting story that features ignorance and greed among many, and honor, sacrifice, and insight among a few. His account of U.S.-Iran relations and the part played by these brave Foreign Service officers—whose values, to borrow a phrase from the U.S. Navy, were “Duty, Honor, Country”—reminds us of the critical work this small group of patriotic Americans does on behalf of the rest of us. The tragedy is that no one listened then; and now these honorable public servants are not only ignored but openly despised and ridiculed. n Attuned to the apparent haphazardness of the Iranian Revolution, Anderson’s fascinating narrative is full of “Oh no!” and “might have been.”
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