ABSTRACT
The Department of State is the principal agent of the executive branch responsible for managing US foreign relations. In the mid-1990s it operated a network of more than 250 diplomatic and consular posts throughout the world plus delegations and missions to international organizations. The ‘whiteness’ of the Department of State came under Congressional scrutiny in 1962 during a House of Representatives labour subcommittee hearing. The American civil rights movement and the Soviet Union’s support for national liberation movements in Africa made the addition of a few black faces to the US diplomatic corps seem like a good idea. A 1976 analysis of the composition of the State Department revealed that no African-American held the post of Assistant Secretary of State for any of the geographic bureaus. Barbara Watson did hold the position of Administrator of Security and Consular Affairs.
