Contributions by Idahoans in the Foreign Service

After growing up near Burley, Victor Skiles enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. After serving in the Pacific, he joined the Quadripartite Control Council in Berlin to plan food distribution to war refugees in the immediate aftermath of World War II. After joining the Foreign Service in 1948, he helped implement President Truman’s Point Four Program, introducing U.S. foreign development assistance as a means of creating more prosperous and democratic partners for America. Learn more in his ADST oral history.

After earning a forestry degree at the University of Idaho and fighting forest fires across northern Idaho, Philip Habib served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II and then joined the Foreign Service in 1949. In positions ranging from Ambassador to Under Secretary, he became a prominent peace negotiator, playing roles in negotiations to end the Vietnam War, maintain stability on the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the Middle East. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982 for his role as mediator to end fighting in southern Lebanon. Read his story in ADST’s collection.

A native of Troy and graduate of the University of Idaho in nearby Moscow, Everett L. Headrick began his Foreign Service career in 1957. Headrick worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in several countries, from Libya to Zaire to Pakistan. His work prompted a surge in vegetable production in Libya, and during his time in Zaire, which coincided with their fight for independence, he provided aid directly to those impoverished by the conflict. Read more in his ADST oral history.

A native of Moscow in northern Idaho, Samuel H. Butterfield joined the International Cooperation Administration (soon to become USAID) in 1958. Butterfield became USAID Mission Director in Nepal in 1976 and witnessed the modernization of a mostly rural nation. He oversaw the implementation of the New Directions mandate there, which aimed to increase food yield and productivity in developing nations. Learn more in his full oral history.

After growing up on a farm in southern Idaho, Kenneth L. Kornher joined USAID in 1963 and served in countries such as Brazil, Tanzania, and Vietnam. Kornher launched the Local Revenue Project, which sent experts to key countries to advise governments on how to generate and spend local tax revenues and reduce dependency on outside donors. He implemented numerous modernization and strategic initiatives designed to make aid efforts more effective. His complete story is available on ADST’s website.

Herman J. Rossi III was raised in Wallace and joined the Foreign Service in 1965. As Deputy Chief of Mission in Gabon in the early 1980s, he helped open doors that allowed an American oil company to secure a concession to begin offshore exploration in an area previously dominated by French firms. Learn more details in his ADST oral history.

E. Michael Southwick spent his middle school years in Twin Falls and joined the Foreign Service in 1967. As Ambassador to Uganda from 1994 to 1997, he promoted democracy in the midst of the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency and oversaw programs to address the AIDS crisis. Read more about him in his complete oral history.

Born in Pocatello, Stuart Van Dyke began his international development career in 1945 working for U.S. occupation forces rebuilding Germany and then helped implement the Marshall Plan with one of USAID’s predecessors – the Economic Cooperation Administration. He became USAID Mission Director in Chile in 1974 and helped steer the authoritarian government toward reforms that stabilized the spiraling economy. His story is in ADST’s collection.