Arizona sun., 1961-08-31
Open Campaign
To Recruit
More Negroes !.

1--WE are determined to do every.
thing that we can to insure that
discrimination is not practiced in
the State Department, and that we
open up the channels of Opp0r-
tunity to all of our American citi-
ZenS.
There were the words Of Secre.
tary of State Dean Rusk WedneS-
day, August Is, as he addressed
about so Negro leaders and of
ficials of human relations organs
cations. RuSk had invited them to
Washington to help the State De-
partment launch a campaign to
recruit more qualified minority
group personnel.
Rusk told the group that both
President Kennedy and he believe
strongly that American personnel
overseas ought to be representa-
tive of all the American people,
and that is not yet the case to the
extent that we would like it to be-
He said that one reason the De-
partment is seeking bright young
Negroes to take the Foreign Serv-
ice examination and competent,
experienced Negroes for appoint
ment to middle and high-level jobs
is that the Department is faced
with serious shortage of talent.
But the State Department also
has selfish interest in seeking
more qualified Negroes. Rusk said.
He explained:
''The biggest single burden that
we carry on our backs in our for-i
eign relations in the 196Os is the
problem of racial discrimination
here at home. There is just no
question about it.
I'VE are dealing with forty or
fifty new countries that have be-
come independent since 1945, and
we are living through a decade Of
readjustment of the relationships
between Western Europe and the
rest of the world-a decade when
the white race and the non-white
races have got to re-examine and
readjuSt their traditional relation
ships.
"Our attitude on a question of
this sort is of fundamental inn
pOrtance to the success of the
foreign policy of the United States
Rusk said Americans must work
zealously to remove the burden of
racial discrimination and that "one
of the first things we must do is
ensure that our own Department
and our own Foreign Service prove
themselves on this point. "
To point up the magnitude of
the problem, Herman Pollack,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for Personnel, pointed out
that the Department has 4,57O civil
service employees of whom 1,O64
are Negroes.
However, he said, IS percent Of
the Negroes are in the bottom
ranks (GS or lover, earning
SIS, $3.50 or less. The highest ranking
Negro civil service employee was
a GS 13 Tin the $4,000 to $4,000
pay bracket) A
The top civil service bracket is
GS 18 with annual pay of $18,5O0.
Pollack also said that estimates
based on head count indicated
that of 1882 Foreign Service Of
ficers, II are Negroes; of LAO
Foreign Service Reserve officers
8 are Negroes, and of 3,527 MEM
bers of the Foreign Service Staff
(secretarial and clercial); SO are
Negroes.
Pollack pointed out that past
racial discrimination is not the
sole cause of the paucity of Me-
groes in the professional services
of the Department.
He said that of SO students from
predominantly Negro colleges who
took the Foreign Service Exam in
December 1859, not one passed.
The examination is given and
scored without knowledge of the
race of the examinee.
Administrators of the predomi-
nantly Negro students have been
stunning the examination, or
whether there are steps the col
leges should take to better pre-
pare their students for such ex-
aminationS.
Speaking for conference partici
pants, DR.. Jerome Holland, Presi-
dent of Hampton University, praiS-
ed the Department for calling the
conference. He said it was "a laud.
Continued on Page Two)