Her Excellency: An Oral History of American Women Ambassadors.

Watson, Robert P.

ANN MILLER MORIN, Her Excellency: An Oral History of American Women Ambassadors (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995) 315 pp. $27.95 cloth (ISBN 0-80579118-3), $16.95 paper (ISBN 0-8057-9142-6).

This important book is part of Twayne Publishers' "Oral History" project, edited by Donald A. Ritchie, a series that contains numerous titles covering such topics as the Holocaust, diplomatic spouses, women peace activists, homesteading women, European migration to the United States, and other social, human, and women's interest issues. It tells the stories of fifteen trailblazing women who served as U.S. ambassadors. The stories are told through the actual words of the ambassadors themselves and are based on extensive taped interviews conducted by the author. In addition to these transcriptions, the author conducted many other interviews with women in the diplomatic corps as well as with family and friends of those individuals profiled. Morin also draws from her own experiences as the wife of a career foreign service officer and supplements the interviews with research from presidential and state department libraries.

The author does a good job in selecting a diverse sample of women from a mix of diplomatic posts, backgrounds, and an even balance of careerist and noncareer ambassadors. Also included are such diplomatic celebrities as Clare Booth Luce and Jeane Kirkpatrick. In addition to offering insights on the ambassadorships of these women, the author reveals their sources of motivation, accomplishments, and challenges, and examines the larger issue of the role of women in diplomacy. Morin concludes that most female ambassadors saw themselves as ambassadors who happened to be women and not women who happened to be ambassadors.

Considering the sexist, exclusionary history of diplomatic service, the accomplishments of the women ambassadors are all the more remarkable. Indeed, a major contribution of this book is its historical analysis of the difficulty women faced in integrating the foreign service. Precisely 155 years after the founding of the American diplomatic service, the first female envoy was appointed by FDR in 1933; the first woman to achieve the rank of ambassador did so in 1949; and it was not until the 1970s that women achieved even a marginally significant degree of representation in any segment of the American diplomatic bureaucracy. Even the development of foreign service entrance exams and formalization of the diplomatic service in the early 1920s did not eliminate entrenched mindsets believing that the physical conditions overseas and the socially and culturally restrictive customs of diplomacy were reasons not to permit women into the ranks of the "old boys" network. Morin highlights the trials faced by women ambassadors including hostility from sexist senators during confirmation, reluctant embassy staffs, unsupportive secretaries of state, and host countries which often saw the appointment of a female ambassador as a diplomatic "slap in the face" to their U.S. relations. Relatedly, Morin reminds the reader of other seemingly petty concerns not faced by male ambassadors like raising children abroad, the question of marriage (which often disqualified potential female candidates), and the ambassadorial tide, which has varied from "Madam Ambassador" to "Mrs. Ambassador" to, refreshingly, Just plain old "Ambassador."

The book closes with a summary discussion of the similarities between female ambassadors and the advantages and disadvantages of being a woman in the diplomatic service. Unfortunately, Morin seems to insert these short page-length summaries as an afterthought. The book would benefit by a more detailed, systematic examination of such topics. On finishing the book, I found myself with many questions about these concerns and piecing together my own conclusions about female ambassadors. Readers looking for some sort of conclusion linking and Justifying the breakthrough profiles in the body will not find it. Morin's research and the methodological approach of using oral histories and biographies is sound, however the book could also have incorporated the rich body of feminist theory, models from women's studies/history, organizational or leadership theory, and so on to guide the analysis. If there is a criticism of the book, it is that there was no conceptual framework from which to study the history, progress, contributions, and challenges of women ambassadors and Morin's strong case had no theoretical foundation on which to stand. The author is, nevertheless, on to something important and makes a contribution to a topic that has otherwise largely been ignored by scholars.

Morin concludes that there are some identifiable similarities between women ambassadors. For example, in terms of their education, they tend to be well educated and often attended all-female prep schools. Physically, she found them to be of above average height, good at sports, and physically attractive. Their personal characteristics are defined by a love of their work, a spirit of public service, courage, energy, and charisma. But, why? What are the consequences of this? For instance, Morin tells the reader that many female ambassadors who were careerists never married. This is a potentially interesting finding. Yet such questions are not considered. She deems them all "pioneers," an apt description and one learns that most early female ambassadors were stationed in Northern Europe, specifically Denmark, Norway, and Luxembourg. In terms of the advantages and disadvantages faced by women, it is sad but not surprising to learn that humiliating sexual and gender stereotypes seemed to be an ever present part of their experiences. Perhaps more interestingly, these pioneers usually experienced a lack of mentoring by other women in the service, or men for that matter. However, paralleling findings in the research on women in politics, female ambassadors have benefitted by being perceived as less threatening, more honest, caring, and sincere on issues like human rights, education, and health care. They have also been able to mix freely with women of the working and poor classes in the host countries, which have proved a source of information and goodwill for both the ambassador and the United States.

In reading these concluding findings, the reviewer was disappointed that the book did not go further. Perhaps it was beyond the focus of the effort or the training of the author. Yet, in spite of leaving many rich and important questions unanswered, the book does provide a forum for raising these questions. At times the reviewer found the inter-views a bit "chatty" and socially digressive, but overall, the book was thoroughly enjoyed. It is a highly entertaining, informative, and readable account of our diplomatic pioneers that should be enjoyed by scholars of women's studies and history, diplomacy and diplomatic history, and international relations. It is broad enough to appeal to a recreational readership or would make a nice supplemental text,for courses in the aforementioned disciplines.

ROBERT P. WATSON Assistant Professor of Political Science University of Hawai'i, Hilo