Contributions by Virginians in the Foreign Service

Born in South Boston, Virginia, Edward R. Dudley Jr. was the first black American to hold the title Ambassador when he was America’s representative in Liberia from 1949-53. He helped shape U.S. policy toward Africa, convincing the State Department for the first time to express American support for the legitimate political and economic aims and aspirations of the African people. Read more of his story on ADST’s website.

Virginia Edwards was born and raised on farms in Brunswick County in southern Virginia. After working for the Office of Naval Intelligence throughout World War II, she became a Foreign Service secretary in 1951 and helped set up the first Marshall Plan program in Turkey to build the country’s agricultural capacity. Read the rest of her story on ADST’s website.

Born and raised in Petersburg, Irvin Coker first joined the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1964. When he was USAID Mission Director in Uganda promoting rural development, clashes between the government and rebel groups overwhelmed Kampala. Coker’s office served as a lifeline for American citizens when the fighting knocked out U.S. Embassy communications. He led the convoy evacuating American personnel, including many families, to neighboring Kenya. Read his full story on ADST’s website.

John Campbell grew up in Arlington and studied at the University of Virginia. He joined the Foreign Service in 1975. As political counselor in Pretoria in the 1990s, he reported on negotiations over South Africa’s transition from Apartheid to a nonracial democracy and supported programs to provide the parties with American expertise on such issues as constitutional law. He went on to serve as Ambassador to Nigeria. His oral history is in ADST’s collection.

John M. Jones was raised on a farm in New Canton, south of Richmond. Joining the Foreign Service in 1981, he evaluated U.S.-run police training sites in Afghanistan as a senior member of the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General and led a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Diyala Province during the troop surge in Iraq, where he suffered lung damage from a chlorine gas attack by a suicide bomber. He went on to serve as Ambassador to Guyana. His full oral history is in ADST’s collection.

Born and raised in Richmond, Judith Baroody attended the College of William and Mary and joined the Foreign Service in 1984 as a member of the U.S. Information Agency. As Public Affairs Officer in Cyprus, she organized events to bring members of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities together in the wake of violent clashes, promoting peace on an island divided by conflict for decades. She later served as executive director of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and her oral history is in ADST’s collection.

Richard DriscoII was raised in Fairfax County and attended the University of Virginia. He joined the Foreign Service in 1987. As Economic Counselor in Warsaw, Driscoll assisted in efforts to help transition the Poland’s economy to a free market after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Read his oral history on ADST’s website.

Born in Norfolk, John Paul Vann had a distinguished military career before he joined USAID as deputy of the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) in 1965. Vann died during a helicopter crash on June 9, 1972.

Whyte Keogh grew up in Fairfax and Falls Church and served as head of the U.S. Liaison Office in Windhoek, Namibia. He died during a bomb explosion on April 15, 1984, while driving to northern Namibia to assess the withdrawal of South African army units from Angola.

Seth John Foti was a native of Browntown, and served as a U.S. diplomatic courier. On August 23, 2000, Foti and 142 others died in the crash of Gulf Air Flight 72. He was 31 years old.

Ragaei Said Abdelfattah studied at Virginia Technical University. He served two tours in Afghanistan as an economic growth program officer with USAID. He was killed on August 8, 2012, in a suicide bombing in Kunar Province.