Walter Isaacson, in his latest book, “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written”, examines this language in the Declaration of Independence and the impact it has had on Americans for nearly 250 years. He uses this language - our “shared creed” - to bring together conviction and reason to secure our freedom and ensure our shared future. He acknowledges the contradictions and absences in this sentence but grounds the promise in values of economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. Isaacson tells us that that commitment should still be our guide as a nation today. In doing so, it also was then and should be still today the standard by which we fashion our commitment to work with people everywhere.
This conviction and dedication to reason and the work to achieve its success is the legacy of the American Foreign Service and the American Revolution. This promise has been the core of our approach to the rest of the world. The American negotiators took these words to Paris and London to negotiate the Treaty of Paris and place the United States among the world’s community of sovereign nations. Through succeeding decades, these words inspired Americans and the world. They transformed the globe as government after government and people after people strove to emulate their spirit and their reality. In the 20th century alone, the combination of American military, economic and diplomatic strength saved the world three times, the last resolving the Cold War without firing a shot.
Ending the Cold War successfully was due to the diplomacy of Republican President George H. W. Bush and the outstanding skills of one of America’s most respected secretaries of state - James Baker - backed by highly seasoned and dedicated diplomats. Without America cooperating in leadership with its allies around the world, we would have been in a much more dangerous position going into the 21st century.
American strength brought about enormous wealth, friendship and trust. The material wealth of the world increased from about World GDP in 1950 of around $11.7 trillion in 2021 prices (
ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-gdp-over-the-long-run to about $111.3 trillion in 2024 (official World Bank estimate in current US dollars.) I hazard a guess that there is no similar example in world history for such a dramatic surge of global wealth. With that wealth came a better quality of life, health and the ability of many people around the world to share in that promise from 1776. Sharing that common strength has provided powerful leverage to grow and maintain a better world - for others and for ourselves. Our common values have grown in strength with our common accomplishments; sharing our creativity has made a better world, one that had a brightening future.
Through the collective success that ended the Cold War, American diplomacy reunited Germany and expanded NATO to welcome formerly Soviet dominated nations. We also offered a hand to Russia to cooperate after the USSR fell, an opportunity that was declined and later clearly rejected. America established diplomatic relations with China January 1, 1979 - perhaps the most audacious American diplomatic initiative in history. Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon knew that a stable world would not exist if China were lashed to the USSR and cornered outside by a wall of opposition. Today American diplomacy, facing serious challenges, is key to managing the current and future reality of China to avoid war and ensure global stability.
WHERE OUR DIPLOMATS STAND ON THE FRONT LINE FOR OUR COUNTRY
Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) have always been America’s front line to the world. Our diplomats solve problems by resolving differences over competing interests. The “smart creed” of Isaacson underpins the work of US diplomacy.
Diplomats do not carry weapons. We do not engage in violence. Our only protection and power is our position - the simple fact that we represent the United States and the American people. The influence that provided made the world safer, fairer, and wealthier and helped America as well. Our daring to go out, to include, to resolve together, gave us hope for meeting the challenges that lay ahead.
American diplomats have paid for their devotion to their country, and sadly they will continue to do so. Plans for violence against American diplomats and all others working for our country still exist. In the State Department, there is a plaque inscribed with the names of 321 Americans who gave their lives in service to their country, to its democracy, its Constitution and the promise to the rest of the world that free people have unalienable rights.
Terrorists have mounted mass attacks on our embassies, consulates and personnel. As a Senior Watch Officer at the State Department in April 1983, I received the call from Beirut notifying us of the Embassy bombing. That attack killed 17 Americans and 46 other employees. The al Qaeda terrorist bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7, 1988, killed 224 people in the blasts, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 people were wounded.
There are two cases of professional sacrifice I remember with particular emotion. The first took place in Iraq. Fern Holland, a young women in her 20’s from Oklahoma, was helping USAID near Babylon with contracts to rebuild Iraq. An active, dedicated young American, she was murdered on March 9, 2004 in an ambush by gunmen dressed in stolen Iraqi police uniforms.
The second was Anne Smedinghoff, an FSO and a young native of Illinois on duty in Afghanistan. She was murdered on April 6, 2013 while on a mission to donate books to a local school. Both these young patriots knew the risks, and both took those risks to help our country and the people with whom they worked. Both are American heroes and represent many more like them.
TODAY’S PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMATIC TALENT IS IGNORED
A recent paper, “At the Breaking Point: The State of the U.S. Foreign Service in 2025”published by AFSA, the labor union that represents many FSOs, witnesses the deep concerns of current FSOs about the conduct of American diplomacy. My article today praises the role of diplomats in American history. The administration may ignore the concerns of today’s diplomats, but the American people should not. “At the Breaking Point” is a must read for anyone concerned about the present state of American diplomacy and issues for many current FSOs.
Our current American leaders rely on condemnation, insults, humiliation, threats, vulgarity and raw power as tools of diplomacy. The major and sudden removal on December 22 of 30 or so US ambassadors and senior officers overseas was a deliberate next step to eviscerate the US Foreign Service professional class. Each of these men and women were people of proven experience to manage American interests overseas. The State Department’s response to the resulting criticism is laughable. By casting the removals as routine and claiming that the personnel may continue with new jobs, Secretary Rubio has tried to cover up a diplomatic massacre as routine bookkeeping. Under Trump, returning senior FSOs seldom take up new senior positions in Washington. Their careers often are over. The Foreign Service is an apprenticeship process - with time and a diversity of assignments, officers are tested and tried and gain superior experience. All that expertise and judgment has now been disappeared by Trump with the backing of Secretary Rubio.
President Trump hates any questioning of his choices. For that reason, he particularly hates the American Foreign Service. We are trained and encouraged to provide overseas views of American actions, ask questions, make supportive suggestions and engage in respectful positive dialogue on policy options. From experience I know that the Embassy’s insights are vital to successful policy in Washington.
Mr. Trump doesn’t want to hear any of that. There is no regulation, law (local, state or national), constitutional right, due process standard, or adherence to the rule of law, domestically or internationally, that Trump will use as a guide to action. To date, with one exception, the Supreme Court just throws rose petals along his path.
Many Americans do not realize the attraction of democracy abroad and how much Russia and China truly fear that democracy could take permanent root in their countries. Countries that call themselves democratic but are ruled by autocrats fight against democracy by every means. Among the common people of the world, our prized American ideas are as revolutionary today as they were in 1776.
OUR LEGACY IS A CLEAR PATH TO DEMOCRATIC SUCCESS, GLOBAL PROSPERITY AND SOCIAL BENEFIT. NOW TRUMP IS DESTROYING IT.
The heritage of American diplomatic successes, building on and coordinating with our military colleagues’ achievements, and using to advantage our financial prowess and willingness to help others enjoy live better lives, has left us with historic achievements and a better world. Around the globe, there have been an endless number of diplomatic successes large and small that have enhanced American influence and solidified support for the United States. The balance of interests through diplomacy with the advice of professional diplomats is a far better option than proclamations of hegemony. This administration treats the ruin of the Foreign Service as if it were just moving policy furniture around. What it is actually doing is demolishing an institution that has marked our democratic success for 250 years.