Century of Service: Portraits of Diplomacy
One hundred years of diplomats making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
Since the creation of the modern U.S. Foreign Service in 1924, diplomats have been making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous through their work around the world. Whether it is assisting American citizens in distress, building alliances to counter aggression, or opening markets for exports from our farms and factories, diplomats have delivered for the American people. Thanks to support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, ADST is collecting and sharing firsthand accounts of how diplomats from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Foreign Commercial Service, and the Foreign Agricultural Service have advanced the interests of our country over the past century.
ADST is bringing these stories to communities across the country during 2026 in “Portraits of Diplomacy” presentations in collaboration with the World Affairs Councils of America. Our destinations include:
- Birmingham & Montgomery, AL
- Bozeman & Big Sky, MT
- Louisville, KY
- Minneapolis, St. Paul, & Duluth, MN
- Pittsburgh & Philadelphia, PA
- Cincinnati, OH
- Denver, CO
- Houston, TX
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Albany, NY
- Portland, OR
- Springfield, IL
Click on a theme to read these accounts
Service to American Citizens Abroad
Service to American Business and Workers
Service to American Farmers
Service to American’s Security
Service to America’s Health and Environment
Service to America’s Ideals
Sacrifices in the Foreign Service
The women and men of the Foreign Service routinely risk their lives for the sake of American security and prosperity as they represent the United States of America. These examples drawn from the past six decades on the American Foreign Service Association’s Memorial Plaque illustrate selfless service by diplomats on behalf of the American people.
- Anne Smedinghoff grew up in Illinois and volunteered to serve as a public affairs officer in Afghanistan for her second Foreign Service posting, conducting outreach on such issues as education and women’s rights. On April 6, 2013, Smedinghoff was delivering books to a school in Qalat when she and four other Americans were killed in a suicide bombing. She was 25 years old. Ambassador Jonathan Addleton offers a firsthand account on ADST’s website.
- Born and raised in California, J. Christopher Stevens served in the Peace Corps before joining the Foreign Service. He was named U.S. Ambassador to Libya after helping to unite opposition factions into a democratic government following the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi. Stevens and three other Americans were killed on September 11, 2012, when militants attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi. Stevens was 52. Learn more in testimony by Gregory Hicks, Deputy Chief of Mission in Tripoli, in ADST’s collection.
- Julian Bartley Sr. grew up in Queens, New York, and, after more than two decades in the Foreign Service, became the first Black man to serve as U.S. Consul General in Kenya. Bartley was killed on August 7, 1998, when Al Qaeda bombed the American Embassy in Nairobi. He was 55. His 20-year-old son, who was interning at the embassy in hopes of following his father into the Foreign Service, and 211 others were also killed in the blast. Learn more on ADST’s website in two accounts of the Nairobi bombing.
Submit your own Century of Service Story!
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Submit your story of serving America to ADST at [email protected]. Kindly limit your narratives to approximately 600 words. Please include the following text in your email submission to give us permission to use your story:
By submitting the story that is attached/included in this email to [email protected], I, _____(your name)______, hereby give the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (“ADST”) permission to publish and disseminate it publicly or privately to advance ADST’s educational and training objectives. I and my designees remain free to use this story. I understand and agree that this email constitutes a valid electronic signature.
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