ISBN: 979-8-9882530-0-6 (paperback); 979-8-9882530-1-3 (e-book)

The Foreign Service of the United States and the American Foreign Service Association were born together in 1924. This new edition, released in the joint centennial year, chronicles the evolution of the Foreign Service and the events and personalities that shaped AFSA into what it is today. Published by Foreign Service Books, The Voice of the Foreign Service combines an institutional history of America’s diplomatic service from its earliest days to the present with the twinned story of the American Foreign Service Association, which began as a social club and is today both a professional society and the employee union for Foreign Service members across the federal government. The Association, in the past as today, is central to efforts to professionalize the Service, open it to all Americans, defend its merit system and career principles against political encroachment, keep it trained and adaptable to changes in its mission, and improve conditions of employment for its members. Of the many problems confronting the Service today, none is wholly new, and none can be solved without an understanding of its origins. This book, by illuminating the past, throws light also on the path forward.