Designed to present insiders' views on how consular activities work, this collection of oral history interviews with consular officers is an invaluable resource for diplomatic historians and political scientists. The interviews reveal the tasks these officials perform and how they view the substance of the consular function as part of the American role in international affairs both in the Department of State and at embassies abroad. Among the multitude of topics covered are leadership, training, junior officers, Communist regimes, the political milieu in which the consulates operate, American communities abroad, the protection and welfare of American citizens, narcotics problems abroad, visa matters, and passport concerns. These first hand accounts are provided by both retired and presently working consular officials and reflect a broad range and variety of experience. The interviews have been edited and arranged topically into areas of consular specialization or related interests. Explanatory introductions written by the editors provide needed background information. Although much has been written about the history of consular affairs, there has been little else to date about consular operations and achievements. This book fills that gap.

How do American citizens become ambassadors, and how do they serve as U.S. representatives overseas during such troubled times? What is embassy life really like? How do ambassadors deal with host governments and with officials back in Washington and conduct operations during emergencies and serious crises? Seventy-four senior diplomats give us personal and insider accounts of important experiences. Their comments provide useful insights into the business of diplomacy and will interest students, teachers, practitioners in international affairs, not to mention the general public. Following a brief historical introduction, the interviewees describe their reasons for becoming ambassadors, the appointment process, their training, the management of an embassy, problems in dealing with heads of state and officials at home. They discuss troubles in Korea and Laos, the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jonestown Affair, hostilities in Cyprus, the Fall of Saigon, civil strife in Nicaragua, along with terrorism, coups, and other demonstrations of violence in the 1970s and 1980s. They point to the future role of ambassadors.

This book is a history of the United States Consular Service, an unheralded, but significant element in the promotion of American commerce and influence abroad from the Revolution onward. A group of relatively minor officials, appointed by the vagaries of political patronage and virtually ignored by successive Secretaries of State, American consuls were established in most major foreign ports and trading centers early in the history of the Republic. Consular officers were major players in America's overseas presence because of their special responsibility for seamen and shipping. They were the officials most concerned with the Barbary pirates and worked with the United States Navy to remove them from the Mediterranean. Until 1822 they were the only official representative of the U.S. government in the emerging republics of Latin America. American consuls in Britain helped prevent the Confederates from assembling and supplying a fleet out of European ports. The Spanish-American War was essentially a consular war-fought in colonial territories where consuls supplied intelligence and support for American miliary actions. The American Consul is a long overdue history of the Consular Service. It introduces, through brief histories, anecdotes, and vignettes, some of the men sent abroad by an imperfect system to represent our country. It is an evolving chronicle of their contributions to the expansion of American influence from the start of the Revolutionary War to the eve of the First World War, when American diplomats assumed the predominant role in America's foreign relations. This book is must reading for anyone interested in American diplomatic history.