Charles Stuart "Stu" Kennedy, Jr is an
oral historian
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
of American diplomats. He is the founder and current director of the Foreign Affairs Oral History Program at the
Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) is a United States non-profit organization established in 1986 by retired Foreign Service officers. It produces and shares oral histories by American diplomats and facilitates the publica ...
. Since 1985 he has conducted over a thousand oral histories of retired American diplomats.
Biography
Born in Chicago in 1928, Kennedy moved with his mother and two elder brothers to the Pasadena area of California in the early 1930s, where he attended a series of public elementary schools. Later his mother took him to
Annapolis
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
where a brother attended the
Naval Academy
A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers.
See also
* Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally pro ...
. He went to
Kent School
Kent School is a private, co-educational, college preparatory boarding school in Kent, Connecticut, United States. Frederick Herbert Sill established the school in 1906. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church of the United States.
Acade ...
in Connecticut, graduating in 1946 then on to Williams College where he obtained an honors degree in history. Upon graduating in 1950, Kennedy joined the United States Air Force as an enlisted man in the intelligence branch. After a year's study of Russian at the
Army Language School in
Monterey, California
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...
, he served in Korea during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and Germany. At the end of his four-year enlistment he studied at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
and received a MA in history. Having taken and passed the
Foreign Service
Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...
written examination in 1954 he took the oral examination after leaving the Air Force and passed that hurdle and entered the Foreign Service in 1955.
Work
In his 30 years in the Foreign Service Kennedy was a consular officer dealing with the protection of American citizens abroad, the issuance of visas to foreigners and assistance to the growing throng of Americans visiting overseas in Frankfurt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, then in the war zone of
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
as consul general, then in more peaceful Athens, Greece, Seoul, South Korea and finally Naples, Italy as consul general.
Kennedy retired from the Foreign Service in 1985 and wrote a history of the
United States Consular Service which was published in 1990 by the Greenwood Press. A revised edition was published in 2015 and covered the years up to 1924. Realizing that the work of American diplomats was barely acknowledged, except for a few great names, such as
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, in the teaching of
American history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...
, he started an oral history program, first at
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
in 1985 and then at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
. These efforts were barely funded and the oral history did not have much support until the creation of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training in 1986 by a group of retired Foreign Service officers. Since that time Stu Kennedy has been director of the Foreign Affairs Oral History Program of the Association. He has conducted some 1,000 oral histories of retired American diplomats whose careers range from the 1920s to the present. These are inclusive interviews running about 10 hours, especially those done in later periods, and cover early childhood, education, experiences outside the diplomatic period as well as service to the State Department. Both career and non-career officers are covered. The texts of the interviews are available on the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
's website.
Kennedy was awarded the Foreign Service Cup from the Director General of the Foreign Service in 1997 for his work as an oral historian and in 2014 received the Award for Lifetime Contribution to American Diplomacy from the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). As of 2017 he is still conducting interviews.
In 2014 Kennedy was presented with the Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award by the
American Foreign Service Association
American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), established in 1924, is the professional association of the United States Foreign Service. With over 15,000 dues-paying members, American Foreign Service Association represents 28,000 active and retir ...
.
Publications
* ''The American Consul : A History of the United States Consular Service, 1776-1914'', 1990,
Further reading
Foreign Service Journal article on his Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.
*
External links
ADST website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Charles Stuart
1928 births
Living people
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Historians of American foreign relations
Kent School alumni
Oral historians
Williams College alumni
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
People from Chicago
American diplomats
United States Air Force airmen
United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War
Historians from Illinois
American male non-fiction writers