Since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Yemen was been a hot spot for unrest in the Middle East. The…
When One of “The Murrow Boys” Became a Foreign Service Wife
Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson was the only female member of the original generation of CBS Radio war correspondents known as…
Rooted in the Good Earth: White, Protestant “China Brats” in the Foreign Service
A confluence of two rising movements in the early 1800s, Western outreach to China and reinvigorated Christian evangelism, led to…
Redesigning the Foreign Service Exam
The Foreign Service Exam is one of the most selective of its kind in the United States. Of the thousands…
The Foreign Service Exam – Finding a More Diverse FSO
The process to become a Foreign Service Officer is long and grueling. If you successfully pass the Foreign Service Officer Test…
The Battle to Create the Foreign Service Institute
The art of diplomatic relations and negotiations is as old as civilization itself. However, the State Department did not have…
House Un-American: Foreign-Born Wives of American Diplomats
Before World War II, there was a concern, particularly with upper-level Foreign Service officers like Ambassador William C. Bullitt, regarding…
Elinor Constable — “If you want me out of the Foreign Service, you have to fire me”
Elinor Constable had an illustrious career in the State Department from 1955 until 1993, serving not only as Ambassador to…
The Beijing Conference on Women
“If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights…
A Brief History of the Consular Service
When most people think about consular matters, if they think about them at all, it’s only because they are having…