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L/LM, Room 3422, Main StateU.S. Department of StateWashington, D.C. 20520Phone:(202)647-2318Fax: (202)736-7116

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THE BragMT OF CPHTStTLAR AFPAIttS

SuaaaryThe office dealing with consular affairs was one of themoot powerful ia eho Department of State during 11 of the taaccentury end for the firat quarter of thla one, but 1C fadedinto obscurity during cha Dapreoaion, World War IX, and lea

immediate afteroath, regaining oome of lea former poaltion' inthe last tvo decades,

HiBtorleal BackgroundUntil che Rogers Act of 1924 combines che diplomatic anacoaaular aervlcea into c t i e Foreign Service, there were far moreconsular officers a.ad consular poata abroad -than diplomatic,officers and missions Tae consular role in trade promotion aadprotection gave it cpclal favor ia che bualneaaorientedadministrations and Congresses in Washington. Tbe ConsularService was also blessed with a acrona .leader, Wilbur Carr, whoheaded the service from 1902 until the 1930s, Ironically, itappears that Carr'a influence in the Department eventually

contributed to the eclipee of his beloved consular operationfrom the lace 1930s through the 1950s, In 1929 Carr was given.responsibility for the administration of toe Scate Departmentalong with supervising consular affairs. When he left theDeparcaeac, ch-e adnlniacracive branch -virtually swallowedconaulax1 Affalxs, redueinn It to a tninor poaleloa within theAdMlni.sCrattv Bureau.The Depceoalon and che var also diminished consularactivities overseas, After World War II the consular functionsof passports, visas, and citizen protective services werecombinad with refugee and migration affairs, munitionscoutrola, and security under the Office of Controls (CON)inthe Bureau of Administration. The apparent rationale for thisgrouping was that the visa, passport, and migration functions

were fomn of control over travel, eapecleilljr during che wryears, and munitions control was another, somewhat similar,measure. Why the security function, was lump ad in with the r*stl a * uaelear, but ch t e d for octcurity investigations of motpaasporc and visa applicants in those days may have been thegoverning factor.

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la 1953 the Office of Controls (COtO becatte Che Bureau ofSocurlcy end Consular Affaire (SCA), but was still subordinateco the Under Secretary for Administration. During Che 19500the security aide of the Bureau eeeaed to predominate,especially when Scoct McLeod w*$ tha Administrator (a rankcomparable to Assistant Secretary). Zc *o A eime of partisandebate over the loyalty of Foreign Service officers, eapaoiallythose associated with China, and Che use of the issuance ofAmerican, passports co control the movements of citizens whowere considered security risks or Just disloyal.

The Divorce of Ron-ConsularThe advent of the Kennedy Admialatuacloa in 1961 broughtgone lonjt-neadftd adjustments to Che Buta.au of Security sad

Consular Affairs. In 1962 cbe security f auction v*stransferred Co the Daputy Under Seertry for Admin*et rat on(0) aad VSB headed by a Deputy Aaalatant Secretary for seai>ley(0/SY), but the word Security was not taken out of tha ttl ofSac'urlty and Consular Affairs for the next 15 yeara. Theoffice of Munitions Control was alao transferred to the Bureauof Economic Affaire, leaving only the Office of Refugee andMigratloa Affairs wlchln SCA along with the traditionalconsular offices for viaao, passports and citizens protectiveservices. Refugee and Migration Affairs were included undertha aegis of consular affaire because consular officers werevary ouch Involved In prae easing xafugeee who wore earning coC h e . United States. The first Admlnlntraeor or SCA underKennedy > Abba Schwartz, took great interest In thla aspect ofhis responsibilities. On his departure In 1965, thara wan adrawn-out interregnum before a successor was named and duringthis period the Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs CORK)was put directly under the Secretary with a Special AssistantCo the Secretary in charge* The function vas later moved toCbe Under Secretary's office, and by 1977 to theuewly-e0tabllabcd Office for Hunan Rights and HumanitarianAffairs. .aCer ic became a full-fledged bureau (R.P)

PffteeWhile SCA had been reduced to ite purely consular functionsby 1966,. ic was not until 1977 that a oajor organizationalweakness that bad lasted for more than JO yoara was finallyresolved. Tha Passport Office bad been jLn the Bureau of

Security and Consular Affairs but not of IE. Slaea before theFranklin Roosevelt Administration, the Passport Office had been

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rua ty Huch Shlplay, vho waa very povorful 0. the hall ofCongrea* and even the President had beea aald to remark that heroald not tngl

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eapecially immigration. During the 1960s aad 1970s Congreasbecane avare Chat consular officers were kept from bore sealotpaaifclana trithin PSO ranks, thuu cauaiag cbe bettor Juniorofficers to avoid * con.au2.Mfc- BpacialiasClon,. ' Congrvaa wagcritical of tha apparent willingness of th Department eorelegate the problems of American citizens and their relativesabroad to a corps o f officers who were treated as inferiors bytheir peers in the political and economic function a aad by thetop manage neat of the Department.

In dealing with Congress, the Consular Bureau had anadvan.ea.gc la having 8 Blugle, strong advocate, Barbara Watsaa,rcpxeaoac it off a ad on f o r - aootzc 12 years, while otbereleB*BC0 of the Departnent were led by an ercr banglag acrlcoof As B IB Cant Secretaries,, Ha. Watson vaa followed by DiegoAeceacio, who not only had ch *UTS of belaa the hero of ahostage situation in Colombia, but vho also relished deallnzwith Congreagional coanltteea. CA, under pressure from thaOffice of Management and Budget, had developed la Che 1970s anexcellent cool for obtaining funds from Congress for consularoperations 4 This tool, the consular package, has been uaed andpolished ever oince. Each consular office abroad reportsannually on a series of work statistics., visas, passportsissued, Americana arrested or helped, money collected, ate. aadssaesae* factors inf luancing woffVloado and the vorlc sovi toomeotLa ordttr to project spaae and perootmel needs. Ct-wca c t i preaencaclon of chin k*rd data and woll avare of aonutitmatpressures for better consular services, Congress, 0KB and theDepartment have lately responded in a supportive manner. In1983 over 3,500 parsons were working on consular affaire In theUnited States and abroad, and the budget projection for 1985 is*58,OZ6,000.

Charlaa S. Kennedy, Jr.Office of the HistorianMarch 1984Wang ?0154R

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