Fletcher graduate to be ambassador

The White House announced last week that President George W. Bush plans to nominate James Foley (F'84) as US ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Haiti.

Foley, originally from Buffalo, NY, embarked on his successful career in the Foreign Service nearly 20 years ago. After serving in numerous posts around the world, he currently manages a staff of 240 as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Geneva, Switzerland.

Foley has managed to contribute much to public service through the lessons learned at Fletcher as well as the real-life experience he has gained from many other diverse locations.

He recognizes the value of the education he received while at Tufts. "Fletcher has proved to be great preparation for the Foreign Service," Foley said. He listed the high quality of professors, the "rich and diverse" course work, and the world of contacts "that open up to you forever afterwards as a result of the experience."

As an undergraduate at SUNY (State University of New York) at Fredonia, Foley majored in English and minored in Political Science and French, a language in which he is now fluent.

After pursuing a Rotary Fellowship at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, Foley joined the United States Foreign Service. In 1993, after ten years in the Foreign Service, he received the Department of State's Superior Honor Award. That year, Foley took a post as deputy director of the private office of the NATO Secretary General in Brussels, which addressed defense issues and NATO operations in Bosnia. He has also held the position of Deputy Spokesman of the Department of State as well as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

Foley said that his long career has been both difficult and rewarding.

"The job of Deputy Spokesman was the toughest I have had in the Foreign Service," Foley said. "Having constantly to be informed about everything that was happening in the world, and what the US position was on all that was happening, was an incredibly exhilarating and exhausting challenge."

Numerous press briefs of Foley's press conferences attest to the vast array of knowledge that a Spokesman for the State Department must articulate to the public. His conferences dealt with such diverse issues as violence in Sierra Leone, terrorism in South Africa, and the release of documents concerning new information on the Chilean coup of 1973.

Foley said that though specialized knowledge is helpful in the Foreign Service, "it is not necessary to be an 'expert' on a particular subject," since expertise can also be acquired after entering the Service. According to Foley, the Foreign Service is historically weak in management, "so students might consider seeking out business or other work experience prior to pursuing the Foreign Service."

With his years of experience in different Foreign Service positions, Foley certainly is an example of the need for those in Foreign Service to attain a general knowledge instead of focusing too much in one geographical area. He has served as Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General in Brussels and Belgium, in Manila as a consular and political officer, as well as holding positions in Algiers and Washington.

Foley's early experience on assignment in Manila has left a lasting impression.

"I was lucky to witness firsthand the last two years of the Marcos regime," Foley said. "With the Cold War raging, the Philippines was...a harbinger of all the dramatic changes that were to shake the world in the following decades. It was the start of my education, post-Fletcher."