The Rogers Act: 100 Years of the Foreign Service

Please join us  for a presentation from the National Museum of American Diplomacy's Historian, Dr. Alison Mann, on the people behind the Rogers Act, their motivations for reform and the influences of post-WWI nativism.

As the United States emerged as a global power in the early 20th century, the State Department’s division of consular and political duties no longer met the needs of the American people.

After WWI, the Director of the Consular Service, Wilbur Carr, set out to enact personnel reform and found an eager ally in Massachusetts Congressman and WWI veteran, John Jacob Rogers. Rogers believed that a professional Foreign Service was essential for global peace and stability and advocated for Congress to pass the Act. 

The Foreign Service Act of 1924, commonly known as the Rogers Act, established the modern U.S. Foreign Service as a career organization with employment based on competitive examination and merit. This change had an immediate effect on the scope and impact of the Foreign Service, and created the merit-based system that led to personnel diversity in the ranks of the Foreign Service we see today.