THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 7 On the Shoulders of Giants BY JOHN “DINK” DINKELMAN John Dinkelman is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. PRESIDENT’S VIEWS I took advantage of a muggy day in August to pay a visit to one of the most influential people in AFSA’s history. It was a day I’ll never forget. Most of us who have spent a while in the Foreign Service—and certainly everyone who works for AFSA—have heard of Ambassador Tom Boyatt. Back in 1959, he joined the Foreign Service, after a three-year stint in the U.S. Air Force. He quickly developed a reputation as a smart, charismatic officer—an excellent diplomat who wasn’t afraid to stand up for his beliefs and never backed down from a fight for what was right. Boyatt is perhaps most well known for his heroism on a plane that got hijacked in 1969. He helped injured passengers to safety before the plane was blown up, and then he negotiated their release. For his actions during those six long days when he and the other passengers were held captive, he received numerous awards and commendations. During his diplomatic career, he was also the recipient of AFSA’s prestigious awards for constructive dissent (twice) and the 2008 Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award. But I wasn’t driving hours into Virginia horse country to hear about his past. I wanted to talk to Amb. Boyatt about the future: AFSA’s future. You see, he was instrumental in the fight, back in the early 1970s, to turn AFSA into a union. We’d spent 50 years as a professional association when a group of reform-minded FSOs branded the “Young Turks” led the fight to create a union system independent of State management. Not yet an ambassador (he wouldn’t earn that title until 1978), Boyatt led the charge to develop what he later called a “friendly but adversarial labor-management relationship.” When the new union finally fought its way into existence, he found himself at the helm. As the current leader of AFSA, I set out to meet him hoping he might explain the “friendly but adversarial” piece of the puzzle. Sadly, since I took on the role of AFSA president, there has been a whole lot of “adversarial” but not too much “friendly.” And so I wondered: Had his fight for AFSA felt just as hard as ours does today? And did he ever lose hope? Amb. Boyatt graciously spent the better part of an afternoon with me, talking about the union he had helped build— the one you and I are working to uphold during these turbulent times. He told me that back then, times were tough, as not everyone in the State Department wanted this fledgling union to succeed. But knowing they were on the right side of the fight gave him and his colleagues the strength to keep pushing. It was, however, a different time. As he noted, back then the two sides were always respectful of each other, even when they disagreed. But, he told me gravely, “you do not have that luxury.” Amb. Boyatt understands that we’re in the fight for our lives right now. He reminded me that AFSA has been through challenging times in the past and made it through by pushing for what we know is right. And that is exactly what we’ll do. Thanks to courageous leaders like Tom Boyatt, on whose shoulders we continue to stand, and to loyal members like you, AFSA will continue to fight for the Foreign Service. We’re not going anywhere. n John Dinkelman (left), Maxine Boyatt, and Ambassador Tom Boyatt on the steps of Morris Tavern, August 2026. COURTESY OF JOHN DINKELMAN When perusing this issue, make sure you take the time to read AFSA VP Ro Nepal’s column on page 62. It is by far the best encapsulation of the state of the Foreign Service I have seen during my term in office. The loss of expertise from the departure of Ro, and hundreds of experienced skilled professionals like him, will take years, if not decades, to recoup. —J.D.
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