The Foreign Service Journal - January/February 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 19 F or more than a half-century after it was created, the Department of State was a department of clerks. For- eign affairs were the personal functions of the Secretary of State and the President. … As the consular and diplomatic appointees of the department grew, and as foreign relations became more important and demanding, various Secretaries hoped either to shed the domestic responsibilities or get more help for the demands of foreign affairs. But Congress was slow to recognize the problem and slower still to approve plans for reorganization. The approval of President Andrew Jackson in 1833 made it possible for the Secretary of State to divide the Department into seven bureaus: 1) Diplomatic; 2) Consular; 3) Home; 4) Archives, Laws and Commissions; 5) Pardons and Remissions, Copyrights, and Library; 6) Disbursing and Superintending; and 7) Translating and Miscellaneous. But it was not until 1853 that Congress gave the Secretary some help by establishing the office of Assistant Secretary. In view of these developments, it is significant that the first comprehen- sive plan for the reorganization of the Department of State, placing a greater emphasis on foreign affairs, was published and circulated by a judge …. A.B. Woodward, who first submitted his ideas to aWashington newspaper in the spring of 1824. His [planned] Department of Domestic Affairs would take charge of … the arts, science, agriculture, manufactures, internal commerce, internal improvements, copyrights, weights and measures, the survey and distribution of public lands, Indians, the mail, justice and public economy. With all of these matters being handled by five bureaus in the new Domestic Affairs Department, the way would be cleared to reorganize the State Depart- ment. The State Department was to be renamed the Department of Foreign Affairs and organized on the principle of language and geographical associa- tion into eight bureaus. —Harold D. Langley, excerpted from his article by the same title, FSJ Janu ary 1968 . 50 Years Ago An Early Proposal to Reorganize the Department of State and prioritized reuniting families and attracting skilled laborers. As a result, Asian and Latino immigra- tion rose while immigration from Ireland, Italy and other Western European coun- tries dropped. In 1986, Representative Brian J. Donnelly (D-Mass.) proposed an amendment that would provide 10,000 visas on a first-come, first-served basis for nationals of countries “adversely affected” by the 1965 changes. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) filed similar legislation in the Senate. Then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill—yet another Irish- Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/ address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037 Moving?