Distinguished Careers in U.S. Diplomacy
I’m sharing sketches of the American diplomats featured in Profiles in Service (ADST / Arlington Hall Press, 2026) every Tuesday; later in the week I’ll share a related moment linking Peace Corps service to diplomatic efforts, some simple, some strange, some extraordinary.
Read about past featured RPCV diplomats.
Ambassador Christopher R. Hill calls his Peace Corps assignment (Cameroon, 1974-76) the best job of his Foreign Service career.
Whenever I am asked what my favorite Foreign Service job was, I invariably answer that it was my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer, the position from which I entered the Foreign Service.
One of the most consequential diplomats of his era, Hill served as ambassador five times—Serbia 2022-25; Iraq 2009-10; South Korea 2004-05; Poland 2000-04; and Macedonia 1996-99. He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005-09 and as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim in Albania in 1991.
Alone
Upon his arrival in Baghdad, where Hill was tasked with overseeing the transition from military- to civilian-led operations, Hill turned not to the lessons he’d taken from negotiating an end to conflict in the Balkans with Richard Holbrooke.
He turned instead to his arrival in Cameroon as a Peace Corps volunteer, where he’d learned the limits of outsider influence in choosing the correct community leadership.
Hill’s small jet touched down in Baghdad as a dust storm swallowed the city. Transfer to the embassy via Black Hawk grounded by the swirling sand, he boarded an armored SUV for the twenty-minute drive across town.
As the convoy rolled on, airborne grit dug into Hill’s skin, an unstoppable force against the armor plates, bullet-proof vest, and Kevlar helmet designed to protect him.
Welcome to Iraq.
In that moment, during that short drive to his new command, Hill’s mind rested on this. Riding in a six-vehicle convoy, anticipating the thousands of embassy employees awaiting his stewardship, “I felt as alone as I had some 35 years ago arriving in Douala, Cameroon, for my Peace Corps service” (see Hill’s memoir, Outpost: A Diplomat at Work).
The lonely sentiment would prove prophetic, and the job he’d been asked to do would pit him against fellow diplomats, military commanders, and the very masters in D.C. who’d sent him out in the first place. He would be alone, learning a new culture much as he had as a Peace Corps volunteer in Buea, where he navigated ambiguity by instinct to help local farming cooperatives.
Sometimes successfully; sometimes not.
To follow Hill’s and others’ stories from Profiles in Service, consider subscribing below. And please share your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.
To read more about how the Peace Corps has helped keep America safe, strong, and prosperous for the last sixty-five years, have a look at my short historical overview at the #ForeignServiceJournal.
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Ben East Books 
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