The Foreign Service Journal, November 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2016 15 The Foreign Service Act of 1946 at 20 T welve score and three months ago, the thirty-third President of the United States signed into law the Foreign Service Act of 1946. … Amended frequently, the Act still embodies the essential aims of its conceivers and drafters (the Chapin- Foster group), its sponsors (Secre- tary of State Byrnes and Assistant Secretary—now Senator from South Carolina—Russell), as well as its legitimizers (the Congress). The Act, however, conjured doubts among its opponents (mainly in the Bureau of the Budget) on the grounds that it was too detailed, too inflexible and that it insulated the Foreign Service from direct control by the Secretary and the President. The Act of 1946 codified as law of the land the principles of a career ser- vice which accepted most of its new members at the bottom of a career ladder after rigorous examination—a career service which would reward excellence of performance through promotion and which would also rid its ranks of the least able through selection-out. … The Act also provided for the lat- eral entry of persons into the several ranks of the Service…under specified conditions. The questions of separating-out the least able and providing for the intake of fresh viewpoints and needed talents have been sources of conten- tion in the past two decades since the Act became law. The members of the Foreign Ser- vice today—as in the past— have no fear about competi- tion…so long as the procedures are fair, are unabused and improve the level of excellence of our service to the Secre- tary, the President and the Nation. Certain persons sometimes lost sight of the fact that the Foreign Ser- vice has changed enormously since 1946. Our size has multiplied to meet new national needs. In 1946, almost all members of the Foreign Service were engaged in the usual political or economic reporting, and consular or administrative duties. Today, we work in Vietnam provinces, advise the mili- tary, help to manage AID and Peace Corps missions, engage in education, information, cultural and scientific programs, and are reestablishing contact with American campuses and businesses—in addition to the more traditional diplomatic and consular tasks. Doubtlessly the Foreign Service of the United States will have changed even more by 1986 when we come to the fortieth anniversary of this Act. We face the future with optimism and determination.We welcome all change as long as that change is improvement. Competition will always be our stimulus.We appreciate the heat in the kitchen, not because it is comfortable, but because it keeps our corporate body warm. —Excerpted from the lead editorial in the November 1966 FSJ . 50 Years Ago