ABSTRACT
The Department of State's difficulty in understanding the problems of race and civil rights was no doubt exacerbated by the fact that it had maintained a nearly all-white composition of its diplomatic corps since its inception. Both domestic and international issues forced the department to reassess its lily-white make-up and begin to break down some unwritten rules that had kept the American diplomatic corps a solidly segregated body. Following the Civil War, the Republican Party, seeking to both reward and secure the black vote, appointed a number of African-Americans to posts in the diplomatic service. A handful of African-Americans held professional positions in the Department of State, but besides the abortive attempt to lure Bunche into the department as an assistant secretary of state none were in high-level jobs. A better pay scale and living allowances meant that the diplomatic corps was now on a secure professional basis.
