The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2018 21 R onald E. Neumann received the American Foreign Service Associa- tion’s 2018 Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award at an Oct. 10 ceremony in the U.S. Diplomacy Center at the State Department. (For coverage of the ceremony, see AFSA News, p. 69.) He is the 24th recipient of the award, given annually in recognition of a distinguished prac- titioner’s public service career and enduring commitment to the professional Foreign Service and to diplomacy. Born in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 1944, Ron Neumann grew up in California and France. He earned a B.A. in history and an M.A. in political science, both from the University of Cali- fornia at Riverside. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1970, Mr. Neumann was an Army infantry officer in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal and Combat Infantry Badge. His first Foreign Service assignment (1971-1973) was to Dakar as a rotational officer in the consular and commercial-economic COVER STORY AFSA ANNUAL AWARDS 2018 The recipient of AFSA’s 2018 Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award talks with the FSJ about his career at the center of some of America’s toughest foreign policy challenges. WORKINGTO STRENGTHEN U.S.DIPLOMACY AMBASSADOR RONALD E. NEUMANN Ambassador Ron Neumann with his wife, Elaine, in Gor, Afghanistan, 2006.