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The American Foreign Service Since 1939*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2017

Elton Atwater
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Extract

The Foreign Service of the United States has entered a new era in its development which is as significant as was the period following the Rogers Act of 1924. The signing of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 on August 13 of last year marked the culmination of a series of steps taken during World War II to enable the American Foreign Service to discharge more effectively its increasing responsibilities. Tremendous demands have been placed on the Foreign Service since 1939 as a result of the War and the decision of the United States to assume a leading role in world affairs and the preservation of international peace. Having turned its back on the relative isolation of the 1920's and early 1930's, the United States discovered that a Foreign Service which was adequate to carry out the policies of twenty years ago was far from adequate to carry out the policies of today.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 1947 , pp. 73 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1947

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Footnotes

*

This article was prepared under a grant from The American University, Washington, D. C. The author is at present Director of the Foreign Service TrainingProgram, of the American Friends Service Committee,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

References

1 Selden Chapin, “The Future of the Foreign Service,” address of January 22, 1946, Department of State Bulletin, February 3, 1948, p. 165.

2 American Foreign Service Journal, September, 1945, pp. 13, 47. Unless otherwise noted, the statistics and other factual information for this article were obtained from the appropriate divisions of the Department of State.

3 For a breakdown of this figure, see below, p. 93, note 34.

4 See Walton C. Ferris, “Concerning the Auxiliary,” The American Foreign Service Journal, July, 1944, p. 354.

5 Walton C. Ferris, ‘ ‘ Concerning the Auxiliary, ‘ ‘ The American Foreign Service Journal, July, 1944, p. 355.

6 Department of State, Foreign Service List, April 1, 1942. This was the first Foreign Service List to indicate the temporary officers appointed to the Auxiliary. All subsequent lists have carried this information.

7 Department of State Bulletin, October 11, 1941, pp. 283-284. The American Foreign Service Journal, October, 1941, p. 553.

8 Department of State Appropriation Bill for 1943. Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 77th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 12-13.

9 In some cases Auxiliary officers received higher salaries and grades than career officers doing comparable work. See below, p. 85.

10 Foreign Service List, October, 1945. In a few cases the figures have been adjusted by the writer on the basis of supplementary information from pertinent divisions of the Department of State.

11 Over 2,000 clerks were also appointed under the Auxiliary. These appointments were made in the same manner as clerical appointments in the regular Foreign Service.

12 American Foreign Service Journal, September, 1945, p. 47.

13 The cultural relations program is described in detail in the pamphlet, The Cultural-Coöperation Program, 19S8-194S, Department of State Publication No. 2137. See also “The Work of the Cultural Relations Attaché,” by Morrill Cody, Department of State Bulletin, April 1, 1945, p. 574.

14 For a further discussion, see “Labor and International Affairs,” by Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Department of State Bulletin, September 30, 1945, p. 467.

15 The work of the petroleum attachés is further discussed in the Department of State Bulletin, December 2, 1945, pp. 894-895.

16 For further information, see “Procurement of Foreign Research Materials,” by Birchard A. Humphrey, Department of State Bulletin, January 6 and 13, 1946, p. 22.

17 Department of State Appropriation Bill for 1947, Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 79th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 431 ff., 518 ff.

18 See the Summary and Analysis of the Prize Essay Contest on Suggestions for Improving the Foreign Service, American Foreign Service Journal, March, 1945, pp. 7, 10. Also the editorial, “Well Done,” same, October, 1946, p. 22.

19 “Personnel Inventory of the Foreign Service,” American Foreign Service Journal, September, 1945, p. 47. According to this survey the total work of the Foreign Service at this time was divided as follows among the different fields: economic and commercial, 37.3%; consular, 21.7%; administrative, 20.8%; political, 17.3%; cultural, 1.9%; informational, 1%. These figures were compiled prior to the time when the information work of OWI and the Office of Inter-American Affairs was taken over by the State Department. At the present writing (November, 1946), cultural and informational work probably constitutes over 10% of the total Foreign Service program.

20 Departmental Order 1218, January 15, 1944: Department of State Bulletin, January 15, 1944, pp. 61-63.

21 Division of Foreign Service Personnel, Division of Foreign Service Administration, Foreign Service Buildings Office, and Office of Foreign Service Furnishings.

22 Departmental Order 1234, March 6, 1944 : Department of State Bulletin, March 11, 1944, p. 241.

23 Departmental Order 1273, May 6, 1944: Department of State Bulletin, May 20, 1944, pp. 488-490.

24 Departmental Order 1314, effective April 1, 1945: Department of State Bulletin, April 22, 1945, pp. 777-784. See also Monnett B. Davis, “Reorganization of the Office of the Foreign Service,” American Foreign Service Journal, May, 1945, pp. 20-21.

25 Andrew B. Foster, “The Division of Foreign Service Planning,” American Foreign Service Journal, August, 1946, pp. 11-12, 46.

26 Message from the President, February 29, 1944, transmitting the proposed legislation to the Congress with a report from the Department of State : House Document 457, 78th Congress, 2nd Session. Also Department of State Bulletin, March 4, 1944, pp. 227-230. Public Law 48, 79th Congress.

27 Elton Atwater, “Kecent Legislation Affecting the American Foreign Service,” this Journal, Vol. 39 (1945), pp. 559-565.

28 The figure 577 does not include those who were still classified as clerks in the Foreign Service. On July 1, 1946, there were 2,189 American clerks and 1,757 persons of foreign nationality serving as clerks at the various foreign posts.

29 Department of State Bulletin, May 20, 1945, p. 939.

30 H.R. 4312, March 2, 1944; H.R. 4902, May 31, 1944; H.R. 5474, November 16, 1944 (78th Congress, 2nd Session).

31 H.R. 5244, January 28, 1946. Public Law 488, 79th Congress.

32 “Implementing the Manpower Bill,” American Foreign Service Journal, August, 1946, pp. 22, 64.

33 American Foreign Service Journal, September, 1946, p. 29.

34 The Foreign Service comprised the following personnel on June 30, 1946 :

Chiefs of Mission ..... 50

Career officers ...... 838

Auxiliary officers ..... 369

Administrative and fiscal officers ..... 577

Temporary specialists (Sec. 10(c) of Act of May 3, 1945) ..... 19

Clerks ..... 3,946

Miscellaneous employees ..... 2,742

8,541

For a comparison with the personnel in 1939, see above, p. at note 3.

35 112 did not take the oral examinations, and 48 received a grade which was not passing but which would entitle them to return for a second oral examination after one year.

36 Public Law 724, 79th Congress.

37 See, for example, the summary of the papers submitted in the prize essay contest conducted by The American Foreign Service Journal during 1944 to encourage suggestions from Foreign Service officers on how to improve the Foreign Service. The American Foreign Service Journal, March, 1945, pp. 7 ff.

38 Congressional Record, July 20, 1946 (daily ed.), pp. 9712-9717.

39 Same, July 29, 1946, pp. 10485-10486, 10494.

40 “How the Legislation Developed,” American Foreign Service Journal, September, 1946, pp. 7-9, 52.

41 Reorganization of the Foreign Service, House Report No. 2508, 79th Congress, 2nd Session. This contains not only a detailed analysis of the changes effected by the bill, but also a parallel-column comparison of the texts of the proposed legislation and the previously existing legislation.

42 Reorganization of the Foreign Service, House Report No. 2508, 79th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 129.

43 “What Will My Salary Be?” American Foreign Service Journal, September, 1946, p. 21.

44 Other Foreign Service employees who are American citizens will receive these allowances.

45 Closely related to this was the establishment of the National War College, July 1, 1946, under the joint sponsorship of the Departments of State, War, and Navy, to provide training for a select group of officers from the armed forces and the Foreign Service. The training, which began in September, 1946, and will continue until June, 1947, deals with political-miltary subjects, military strategy and the integration of foreign ‘ policy with military policy. Ten Foreign Service officers are taking this course. See Perry N. Jester, “National War College and Department of State,” Department of State Bulletin, November 10, 1946, pp. 837-840.