Whether being assigned to a new post, taking on a new position, or learning a new language, the careers of Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) are continually evolving. However, they are often not alone on their diplomatic journeys. Many Foreign Service Officers carry out their duties overseas alongside their spouses. While there are certain responsibilities that traditionally fall on the shoulders of these spouses, changes made by the State Department over the last fifty years have provided the freedom for some partners of Foreign Service Officers to pursue their own passions and goals in their various postings. One Foreign Service spouse who took advantage of her international travels during her husband’s assignments was Bonnie Miller.

Married in 1969, Bonnie met her husband, Thomas Miller, during their high school years over a decade before Thomas joined the Foreign Service. They both attended the University of Michigan where Bonnie earned degrees in psychology and social work. While Thomas’s work for the State Department began in 1976, it did not mean the end to Bonnie’s focus on her areas of study. Whether it was in Bosnia or Thailand, Miller kept up her passion for psychology and social work by teaching at various international universities, working as a mental health coordinator in the local communities, and executing numerous workshops and conferences on topics such as parenting and education. However, some of Miller’s most notable initiatives include her anti-trafficking work in Athens, Greece.

Miller’s work in human trafficking began during her husband’s service in Sarajevo, Bosnia after visiting shelters run by the International Organization on Migration for women who had been victims of trafficking. Coming in as mental health professional, Miller took the time to listen to their stories and would further educate herself on human trafficking issues by visiting dozens of women in Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Thailand to listen to their experiences and raise awareness regarding this global issue. Through her work in these various locations, Bonnie was able to successfully continue her mission against human trafficking when she and her husband moved to Greece for Thomas’s ambassadorship.
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After thirteen months of combating the novel coronavirus pandemic through periods of quarantine, mask mandates, and social distancing, all adults in the United States are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine that continues to become more widely available with each passing day. Whether it be Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson, vaccines have been a hot topic of conversation; and getting them into the arms of Americans has proved to be a positive turning point in the return to normalcy and curbing the devastation of the pandemic. However, the COVID-19 vaccine is not the only vaccine that has recently made headlines.

A new malaria vaccine has shown promise in preliminary trials that proved to be 77 percent effective in a group of 450 children. While the research and trials must continue on to further stages, this breakthrough is monumental in the fight against malaria, a disease that kills 400,000 people a year, mostly children.

Although it seems that we are just now experiencing signs of promise regarding malaria and the production of an effective vaccine, the United States has spent decades providing resources for research and malaria control for struggling communities and nations, especially in Africa where nearly 95 percent of malaria deaths occur. According to USAID [United States Agency for International Development], American leadership has helped prevent more than 1.5 billion malaria cases and saved the lives of over 7.5 million individuals since 2000. However, USAID’s efforts in the fight to curtail malaria are by no means a novelty of the last two decades. USAID deployed various methods to fight malaria as early as the 1950s, including contributions and funding for a potential vaccine that, unfortunately, did not prove successful, but led to key findings and developments.

A pioneer in international health programs, Dr. Julius S. Prince had firsthand experience with the disease gripping Africa and the early initiatives USAID had underway to help these people in developing countries. Acting as the chief of the Public Health Division, Prince served as the leader to USAID’s [International Cooperation Administration at the time] Ethiopia Mission. In this “Moment” in U.S. diplomatic history, Prince describes the malaria epidemic that brought devastation to Ethiopia in 1958 and the public health programs, projects, and evaluations undertaken by USAID in collaboration with the Gondar Public Health College and Training Center in the early fight against the disease.
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Following the Allied victory in World War II, Germany faced a long road to reconstruction. The war took the lives of about 7 million Germans and destroyed much of the country’s physical infrastructure. The Allies’ occupation of Germany also disrupted German life even further. Factories were destroyed, some civilians were enslaved, and other people were forced to migrate to new areas as reparations for the immense damage the German Nazis had caused during the war.

The four Allied Powers (the United States, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union) split the country into areas that each one would occupy, though the ultimate goal remained for the country to be reunified eventually. However, the separate areas led to the division between East Germany and West Germany, which contributed to and lasted throughout the Cold War. Reunification ultimately did not take place until 1990.

The United States played a large role in the postwar occupation of Germany. During this period, tensions heightened between the United States and the Soviet Union as the camaraderie steadily faded following World War II. During his time in postwar Germany, Victor Skiles experienced firsthand much of the tension and destruction that occurred. However, Skiles felt that he was there to help rebuild Germany and to stop the destruction. He focused on agriculture and imports, trying to ensure that all Germans were able to eat sufficient rations even throughout the chaos and uncertainty of the occupation and reconstruction of Germany. This “Moment” in diplomatic history highlights Skiles’s experiences working in postwar Germany amid ongoing struggles and increasing tensions. Read more

The Fall of Saigon is perhaps one of the most infamous moments of the Vietnam War. Following the fall of other large cities to the North Vietnamese Army, the U.S government launched covert operations to evacuate Americans and Vietnamese civilians from the country. These evacuations would become some of the most famous in history.

In 1974, Congress reduced funding to the South Vietnamese government. This reduction in funds increased the vulnerability of South Vietnamese forces, and in December 1974, the North Vietnamese invasion began. As city after city fell to the North Vietnamese Army, refugees fled in droves while being shelled by North Vietnamese artillery. In Washington, President Ford appealed to Congress for emergency aid to Vietnam, but was turned down. When it became clear that evacuation would be necessary, controversy brewed over how to handle the evacuations. Some members of Congress insisted that only Americans should be evacuated, while others stressed the importance of evacuating “vulnerable” Vietnamese nationals. These were Vietnamese citizens who had worked with the U.S government, and would be at increased risk when the North invaded. Ultimately, the government decided to evacuate Americans, vulnerable Vietnamese, and Vietnamese relatives of American nationals.

In March of 1975, Americans and Vietnamese employees of the U.S. government began to be evacuated from other cities around the country, but the evacuations sparked chaos when many members of the public found out about the evacuations and begged to be included. Throngs of people attempted to board U.S. vessels and planes, creating widespread panic. For this reason, the Saigon evacuation was kept secret from the public up until the last minute.

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Barbara M. Watson was the first black person and woman to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs. Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, Watson’s exemplary legacy continues to reflect a deep commitment to public service, self-integrity in light of political and social tribulations, and a distinct dedication to consular functions.

Such acumen and intellect was met with an acute sense of duty and bipartisanship which complemented her strong leadership throughout her career at the State Department. Based on the accounts of her contemporaries as well as her experience as ambassador to Malaysia under President Carter, Watson’s contributions to U.S. foreign policy, especially as an African-American female, demonstrate the important richness of diversity in the diplomatic service and professional workforce.

The late Miss Watson was born in New York City on Nov. 5, 1918 to Jamaican immigrants: Violet Lopez Watson, a founder of the National Council of Negro Women, and New York’s first elected Black judge, James S. Watson. Following her familial calling to service and justice, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943 from Barnard College and her law degree in 1962 from New York Law School. Upon graduation, she served as an assistant attorney for the New York City Law Department from 1963 through 1964.

By the end of 1964, her new role as the executive director of the New York City Commission for the United Nations from 1964 to 1966 served as her debut into foreign policy. This position led to her first role at the State Department as the Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration and as Deputy and Acting Administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs from 1966 to 1968. Her appointment to State was uncommon and thus prominent, as the Department employed few female and black Foreign Service Officers—a reflection of the overall state of the American national security apparatus at the time. Despite this, her distinguished work performance in the Bureau of Consular Affairs earned her promotions, thus paving the way for more women and African-Americans to follow suit.

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The twentieth century continues to captivate the attention of policy professionals, academics, and the general public. This is due to more than its contemporary salience; the century epitomized ideological contest on a global scale. As the threshold between Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism, the setting of both world wars, and a witness to the decades-long contest of their emergent world superpowers, the twentieth century proved a crucible for many of the most trying conflicts of human history.

Unfortunately, much of the twentieth century was marred by the theme of division. As the global climate divided between Washington and Moscow, the wake of World War II birthed several more regionally descript divisions: namely, that of East and West Berlin, and of Israel from Palestine.

Countless men and women dealt with these fissures in their everyday lives, and many continue to do so to this day. It is in the job description of American diplomats to ease division, and many have made a career of engaging in these tense post-conflict scenarios.

Few, however, have had as frequent a front-row seat to the heavy events of our time as Ambassador Brandon Gove. From serving in Berlin in the late sixties to working in Jerusalem just after the signing of the Camp David Accords, Ambassador Gove had a view into some of the most divisive global issues of the modern age. Read on to discover Ambassador Gove’s tense experiences in occupied Germany, pursuit of peace in the Middle East, and his views on how each were affected by the broader strategies unfolding beneath the Cold War.

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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a crucial player in delivering assistance and aid to foreign countries. With a mission to reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help global communities emerge from crisis, USAID has spent the last sixty years implementing a variety of programs and initiatives to achieve such goals. One of the early programs of USAID was the Housing Guarantee Program (HG).

Responsible for providing loans for trade union sponsored projects, HG began with a specific focus on Latin American regions and the establishment of U.S.-style saving and loans associations in foreign countries. While this approach did achieve some success, under the leadership of Peter Kimm USAID’s Housing Guarantee Program developed and expanded significantly.

Beginning his career with USAID in 1966, Kimm first felt a call to action following President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, which inspired him to join the Association for International Development, a volunteer opportunity with a Catholic NGO. From there, he went on to work with the American Institute for Free Labor Development, which would act as his first exposure to USAID and the Housing Guarantee Program. Through leadership, policy change, and the implementation of new legislation, Kimm helped to extend the reach of the program to not only include Latin America, but the entire globe. Simultaneously, Kimm shifted focus to upgrading urban slums into affordable housing for impoverished people in these foreign communities.

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In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a historic peace agreement committing to diplomatic and commercial ties. Peace seemed imminent for these two countries in conflict, but one issue remained in place for the next three years––the Sinai peninsula. The matters of contention revolved around a settlement that was then occupied by Israeli and American extremists, as well as the ownership of the resorts in the Sinai town of Taba.

           

As a small resort town located in the South of Sinai, Taba’s ownership was a very contentious issue, generating nationalistic responses from both Egypt and Israel. Both sides presented their arguments for ownership, but in the end, an international arbitration panel awarded Egypt sovereignty. In February of 1982, Egypt and Israel signed an agreement for the handover of Taba that included $37 million in compensation for the former Israeli owner of Taba’s main hotel, The Sonesta.

The United States coordinated a negotiation team to resolve the conflict between Egypt and Israel. Originally Israeli Prime Minister demanded that they be led by Secretary of State Al Haig, but he was occupied with resolving the disputed Falkland Islands. Ultimately, the team included Foreign Service Officers Robert M. Perito and Walter Stoessel, amongst others. Perito, in particular, proved integral to resolving issues over Taba’s sovereignty, the demarcation of boundaries, as well as the claims of Egypt’s violation of its peace agreement with Israel.

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U.S. Foreign Service Officer John Dinger arrived in South Africa to serve as a regional trade officer at the time when Frederik Willem De Klerk was elected as the president of the country. De Klerk’s election in 1989 promised to bring apartheid to an end. Yet, as Dinger faced during his service, tense situations were still prevalent in South Africa: labor movements, the ban of the African National Congress, the anti-apartheid struggle, “necklacing” (punishment to black people by their community for perceived collaboration with the apartheied government), distrust in white people, and the spread of communism.

Black workers formed the backbone of South African industry. But soon white managers at mining and manufacturing plants would find no black person working for them. Rising worker discontent led to the creation of a new commission to allow black workers to organize. This decision led to the first (and, at that time, only) Black South African labor union. Soon, labor unions formed in different sizes: Mineworkers, Metalworkers, and The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) among others. Apartheid was nearing its demise.

Another concern, however, was the expansion of communism. In this “moment” in U.S. diplomatic history, we see that, as a regional trade officer, John Dinger focused on getting trade unionists’ perspective on democracy, despite a lack of interest on the part of the trade union representatives to engage with the U.S. government. Overcoming the challenges of gaining trust, meeting with labor union representatives, and facing the tirade against the U.S. government, Dinger encouraged unionists to join the international dialogue and an international labor organization.

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Following Allied victory in World War II, the world plunged headfirst into a bitter rivalry lasting decades between the two superpowers of the time: the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S. and the USSR strived for superiority in the buildup of nuclear weapons, the space race, and the ability to exert ideological influence on other nations.

The 1970s, however, marked a turning point with the introduction of a period of détente, or an easing of strained relations, between the two entities. Individuals in both countries began to advocate for the opening of security negotiations that would facilitate the easing of tensions between the battling states.

In July 1973, thirty-five nations began talks under the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Talks continued in Geneva until 1975, after which the participants reconvened in Helsinki on August 1, 1975 to sign the Helsinki Final Act. This agreement became known as the Helsinki Accords, which served as the groundwork for the later Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), established in 1995 under the Paris Charter of 1990.

The Helsinki Final Act tackled a variety of issues which were divided into “baskets.” The first basket (security dimension) dealt with an array of military and political issues, such as the definition of borders in a Europe plagued by war and competing political philosophies. The second (economic dimension) emphasized the importance of active trade, protecting the environment, and other economic issues. The third (human dimension) focused on human rights, including freedom of emigration and freedom of the press. Finally, the fourth and final basket defined the details of a follow-up meeting and implementation measures. The passage of the act led to greater cooperation between Western and Eastern Europe and contributed to significant political and social changes in Europe.

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