The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

64 NOVEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A retired career Senior Foreign Service officer and retired U.S. Army pioneer Special Operations officer, James T.L. Dandridge II is chair- man of the board of directors of the Association for Diplomatic Stud- ies and Training. preconceptions and ambitions. He always worked the person, not the agency, office or organization. And, above all, it was never “about me.” A Born Diplomat Born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on March 13, 1926, Terence Todman exhibited early signs of con- cern for others, especially for the plight of his Caribbean neighbors in Haiti. This was the beginning of the development of a desire to prepare himself to do something for the region. He undertook to learn to speak Spanish and com- menced his university studies in Puerto Rico. Recognizing this budding interest in reaching out to help his fellow man, his mother gave him one indelible piece of counsel: “Don’t get involved in Virgin Islands politics.” And by extension, he carried that advice through life, recog- nizing the need to be politically aware while not becoming politically involved. Amb. Todman was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945 and was commissioned into the officer corps and assigned to General Douglas McArthur’s U.S. military government staff in Tokyo. He plunged into exercising his diplomatic skills in dealing with the Japanese populace, teaching himself enough of the language to be professionally conversant in his areas of responsibility. He was already developing skills that would later serve him so well. Amb. Todman quickly discovered that there was a gulf of mis- understanding between Japanese and American citizens and, as a result of acquiring proficiency in Japanese, his third language, he was able to serve as a cultural bridge to help neutralize the miscon- ceptions andmisinformation each society held about the other. Many are aware of the role that Amb. Todman played in desegregating the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute in 1952 when he entered the Service. But few know that his Army assignment to Tokyo had come as a result of his having “stirred up problems” over the lack of access for minority officers to the Ambassador Todman with President George H.W. Bush at a White House reception. officers club and swimming pools at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, where he was trained as an ord- nance officer. An Unequaled Career In 1952 Amb. Todman embarked on a Foreign Service career that is unequaled by most. His postings included India, Lebanon (for Arabic language training), Tunisia and Togo (as deputy chief of mission). Then he took up three consecutive ambassador- ships, in Chad, Guinea and Costa Rica. After serving as assistant secretary of Western Hemisphere affairs, he held three more ambassadorships, to Spain, Denmark and Argentina. In addition to Spanish and Japanese, Amb. Todman showed a proficiency for difficult languages by learning Arabic and Hindustani. If there were to be a Todman-100 course on how to excel in diplomacy, one of the things it would highlight is his demonstra- tion early on that there is no such thing as a “small post.” After a stint as DCM, with extended time as chargé at an African post, he was selected as chief of mission to what were perceived as obscure posts in Africa. In each, he displayed outstanding skills in focusing U.S. foreign policy on issues that had continental reverberations. Courtesy of James Dandridge II