Leveraging the totality of America’s talent pool will maximize our chances of deeper partnerships in this new, challenging age. America’s diversity is an asset we need to bring to ensure our success. Representative Leadership has been proven to increase America's standing abroad, while serving the country's interests abroad.

 

In 1978, the United States appointed Terence Todman, one of the few African American diplomats at the time, to serve as its ambassador to Spain—a European country which had transitioned from the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco only 3 years earlier. President Ronald Reagan subsequently appointed him Ambassador to Denmark and Argentina in the 1980s, both majority-White countries where Black diplomats were never seen in non-African and Caribbean delegations.

 

In 1986 President Reagan appointed African American ambassador Edward J. Perkins to Apartheid-era South Africa, whereupon presenting his credentials to serve, famously stared down its segregationist president, Pieter Willem Botha. Thus, displaying a sharp contrast between modern American values and the antiquated policies of the South African segregationist regime. Much later, African American diplomat Aaron Williams served as Mission Director for USAID’s operations in the country during the Mandela presidency. Williams managed a foreign aid portfolio of over $1 billion and worked very closely with South Africa’s first Black president to strengthen bilateral relations.

 

The appointments of Todman, Perkins, and Williams, all served to send a particular message to the world about America’s progression on the equal opportunity values of Ralph Bunche, an African American scholar, diplomat, and Nobel laureate.  Both Perkins’ and Williams’ roles also showcased the United States’ commitment to full democracy in South Africa and ending Apartheid. In 2011 a conversation on humility in China was sparked when a photograph of Gary Locke, the first Chinese American ambassador to the POC, waiting in line to purchase his own coffee began circulating around the web. The incident shocked Chinese citizens and generated a positive image of the United States internationally. 

Though progress has been made across both public and nonprofit spaces to diversify international affairs, we need to take more steps to strengthen the pipeline. The United States foreign policy communities must pursue a three staged approach to ensure that future generations of U.S. global professionals are prepared to confront the biggest national security concerns of our time, while also reflecting the nation’s diverse populace and intellectual perspectives.