Contributions by North Carolinians in the Foreign Service

William W. Thomas, Jr. was born and raised in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and joined the Foreign Service in 1952. As Chargé d’Affaires in Vientiane in the early 1980s, he pressed the government of Laos to help account for Americans still missing in action from the Vietnam War and recover remains of soldiers who had been killed. Learn more in his full ADST oral history.

Born and raised in Lexington, William Lacy Swing joined the Foreign Service in 1963. Departing his first tour as a consular officer in South Africa where he witnessed the brutality of Apartheid and the conviction of Nelson Mandela, he vowed to never return until the system was reformed. Twenty-three years later, he returned as the U.S. Ambassador and was among the first to welcome Nelson Mandela back to freedom. Swing also served as Ambassador to Liberia, Nigeria, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Read more of Ambassador Swing’s story in ADST’s collection.

Born and raised in Hampstead, Mattie R. Sharpless attended North Carolina College and joined the Foreign Agricultural Service in 1965. In a career that took her from Brussels to Bern, she became the Special Envoy for Emerging Markets, working around the world to expand American agricultural exports by small and medium companies. Sharpless was named Ambassador to the Central African Republic in 2001. Her full oral history is in ADST’s collection.

Raised in Winston-Salem, Albert E. Fairchild graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and joined the Foreign Service in 1966. As a political officer in Kabul, he reported on complex Afghan political developments that ultimately led to a coup and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When he served in Iran he was detailed to the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Trade Center in Tehran, identifying potential markets for American exports. Read more about his career in his full ADST oral history.

Born in Northhampton County, Claudia E. Anyaso was a student civil rights activist before starting in the State Department in 1968 as a civil servant and later joined the Foreign Service in a career focused on public affairs. As cultural affairs officer responsible for Egypt in 1976, she was instrumental in securing authorization for the U.S. Navy to transport King Tut artifacts to the United States, avoiding cancellation of the celebrated “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibit. Read the rest of her story in ADST’s collection.

Born in Zebulon, Michael Ray Wagner was a member of the U.S. Defense Attaché Office in Beirut. On September 20, 1984, members of the Islamic Jihad Organization attempted to crash a car carrying a bomb into the gates of the new U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing Wagner and 23 others.

Joseph John Kruzel was born in Goldsboro. After a distinguished Air Force career, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy. Colonel Samuel Nelson Drew attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After serving at the U.S. Mission to NATO, he became director of European Affairs for the National Security Council. On August 19, 1995, while traveling through war torn Bosnia and Herzegovina to press forward peace negotiations in the Balkans, Kruzel, Drew, and another diplomat were killed when their armored personnel carrier slid off a mountainside.

After a career in the U.S. Navy, David E. Foy of Fayetteville chose to continue serving his country in the Foreign Service. He was serving as the facilities maintenance officer at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, when he ]was killed by a suicide bomber at the gates of the consulate on March 2, 2006.