Contributions by Illinoisans in the Foreign Service

People born, raised, or educated in Illinois 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 Chicago, Sally Grooms Cowal began her career in the U.S. Information Agency in 1967 and went on to serve as Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. She co-founded the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, which has helped spread HIV prevention and treatment around the world. Her full story is in ADST’s collection.
Born sixty miles south of Chicago, James F. Collins began his long career in the Foreign Service in 1969 as a State Department intern. As deputy chief of mission in Moscow, Collins took charge of the embassy in the summer of 1991 after his ambassador retired, leading the staff through the attempted August coup and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. A renowned expert on Russia, Collins returned to Moscow as the U.S. Ambassador in 1998. Read the rest of his story on the ADST website.
Dennis L. Williams was born, raised and educated in Illinois. After serving in the U.S. Army, Williams became a special agent of the Diplomatic Security Service, ensuring the security of American Embassies from Japan to Jamaica. As head of Dignitary Protection in Washington, he coordinated security for foreign officials at such events as the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The rest of his oral history can be found here.
Tom and Bonnie Miller both grew up in Illinois, met at New Trier High School, and were married in 1969. Tom entered the Foreign Service in 1976 and Bonnie, a mental health professional, accompanied him throughout his career. They became a powerful force in the fight against trafficking in persons, with Tom engaging government officials as Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina and later to Greece, and Bonnie engaging with victims of trafficking and the non-governmental organizations working to counter modern day slavery. Read accounts from both Bonnie and Tom on the ADST website.
Michael G. Anderson was born and raised in Illinois and entered the Foreign Service in 1973. As a political officer in Warsaw, his reporting helped Washington understand the tumultuous political situation in Poland as Solidarity rose from dissident group to government. Read his oral history on the ADST website.
After his childhood in Springfield, Edmund James Hull served in the Peace Corps in Tunisia and then joined the Foreign Service in 1974. After surviving his own detention by Palestinian guerrillas during his first tour in Beirut, Hull went on to become political counselor in Cairo, where in 1985 he helped ensure the evacuation and medical treatment of American citizens aboard the hijacked cruise ship Achille Lauro. His full oral history is in ADST’s collection.