Contributions by Marylanders in the Foreign Service
People born, raised, or educated in Maryland have made important contributions to America’s prosperity and security as members of the Foreign Service community. Here are some examples from ADST’s oral history collection:
- Born and raised in Baltimore, William C. Trimble entered the Foreign Service in 1931. When he served in Paris, he found every possible legal loophole to grant visas to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. He went on to serve as Ambassador to Cambodia. Learn more in his ADST oral history.
- Arthur Hummel Jr. grew up in Chevy Chase and joined the Foreign Service in 1950. As Deputy Director of the Voice of America in the 1960s, he sought government agreements for VOA transmitter placement so broadcasts could reach inside communist China and argued for journalistic freedom for VOA staff. He went on to serve as Ambassador to Burma, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and China. His oral history is in two parts (I, II) in ADST’s collection.
- Born in Baltimore, William Harrop served in the Marine Corps before entering the Foreign Service in 1954. While in Brussels, he helped plan the “Dragon Rouge” operation that employed U.S. aircraft and Belgian paratroopers to rescue hostages in Zaire. Harrop later served as Ambassador to Guinea, Kenya, Zaire, and Israel. His full story is in ADST’s collection.
- Christopher Van Hollen was born in Baltimore and entered the Foreign Service in 1955. On his first tour in India, he helped facilitate U.S. wheat shipments into the Port of Bombay under the Food for Peace program. He went on to serve as Ambassador to Sri Lanka. Read his full oral history on ADST’s website.
- Harriet Curry was born in Annapolis and, after working for the World Bank and being evacuated from Tel Aviv during the Suez crisis, she joined the Foreign Service as a secretary in 1956. She facilitated communications for the U.S. Ambassador in Dakar when he was pressing the government to deny Soviet access to Senegalese air bases during the Cuban missile crisis. Her full story is in ADST’s collection.
- Born and raised in Baltimore, Robert Rackmales entered the Foreign Service in 1963. He served as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Belgrade, where he helped shape the U.S. response to the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. His oral history is available in ADST’s collection.
- Born in Bethesda, Sarah Horsey-Barr grew up overseas in a Foreign Service family and joined the Foreign Service herself in 1973. When she was Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. delegation to the Organization of American States, she helped win support for an embargo that brought an end to a military takeover of Haiti and allowed refugees to return to the island. Read the rest of her story in ADST’s collection.
- Shawn Dorman was born in Baltimore, Maryland and entered the Foreign Service in 1993. As a political officer in Indonesia, she was the main contact with students leading widespread protests that prompted the resignation of President Suharto, providing Washington with key insights as flames engulfed Jakarta. Dorman is now editor-in-chief of the Foreign Service Journal. Her oral history is available on ADST’s website.
ADST also remembers those Marylanders in the Foreign Affairs community who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to America. Several are recorded on the American Foreign Service Association’s Memorial Plaque:
- Francis J. Savage was born in Bladensburg and served in the U.S. Navy and the State Department before joining the U.S. Agency for International Development. He was a provincial representative in Vietnam when he was killed in the bombing of the My Cahn restaurant in Saigon on June 25, 1965.
- Born in Silver Spring, Stephen H. Miller served with the Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office in Vietnam. On February 7, 1968, he was executed by the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive.
- Robert W. Brown, Jr., was born in Centreville and was a Marine Corps Captain when he was assigned to the USAID mission in Vietnam. He was killed by hostile fire on February 26, 1968. He was 26.
- Baltimore native Stephen C. Kaminski served in the Foreign Commercial Service for 21 years. He was Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Austria when he joined an official trade mission to newly independent Croatia. He and 34 others were killed when their Air Force CT-43 crashed near Dubrovnik on April 3, 1996. He was 41 years old.