45 foreign ambassadors headed to… Arkansas
Next week, while tens of millions of Americans will watching the last presidential debate, dozens of foreign ambassadors and their spouses will be on a State Department-sponsored trip … to Arkansas. The State Department’s Protocol Chief Capricia Penavic Marshall will be leading the excursion, only the latest of a series of trips where the State ...
Next week, while tens of millions of Americans will watching the last presidential debate, dozens of foreign ambassadors and their spouses will be on a State Department-sponsored trip … to Arkansas.
The State Department’s Protocol Chief Capricia Penavic Marshall will be leading the excursion, only the latest of a series of trips where the State Department brings ambassadors to soak in the ambiance of different parts of the country. For three days, as part of its Experience America program, the State Department will take the ambassadors all over Arkansas to meet with local political leaders in Little Rock, Fayetteville, and Bentonville and explore the state’s historical and cultural landmarks.
"In bringing these distinguished diplomats to ‘The Natural State,’ the Office of the Chief of Protocol seeks to strengthen America’s relationships with countries around the world by planting the seeds for new international partnerships and providing our visitors with a deeper understanding of our nation’s people and heritage," the State Department said in announcing the excursion today.
On Oct. 21, the diplomatic couples will dine at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. On Oct. 22, the ambassadors will attend a discussion with business leaders and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe at the Little Rock Club.
They will also meet with members of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African American students who were enrolled to attend Little Rock Central High School in the 1950s but were prevented from attending from then Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had to intervene to make sure they could attend the school, and the crisis led to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which mandated the end of racial segregation in public education.
On Oct. 23, the ambassadors tour the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville facilities, and that night they will explore the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.
The mission of the program is "to foster international goodwill and cultivate the relationship between the Diplomatic Corps and the people and institutions of the United States through an exchange of ideas, cultures, and traditions," the State Department said. This will be the seventh trip since the program started in 2007.
A State Department official told The Cable that the ambassadors already signed up include the envoys from Germany, the Philippines, Egypt, Panama, and Tanzania. Many in the diplomatic corps have been wanting to see Arkansas for a long time, the official said.
The ambassadors cover their own transportation and lodging costs, and almost all of the programming is paid for by the host cities or the partner organizations, so U.S. taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill, the official noted.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
More from Foreign Policy
Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America
The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.
The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense
If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.
Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War
Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.
How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests
And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.
Sign up for Morning Brief
Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter with what’s coming up around the world today. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
