From left to right: Mary Kane, US Diplomacy Center director; Susan Johnson and Ambassador Ted McNamara, Diplomacy Center Foundation board directors; US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo; Ambassador William Harrop, Foundation board of directors chair; Ambassador Roman Popadiuk, Foundation president.
The Diplomacy Center Foundation’s Executive Committee met with Secretary Pompeo to report on the progress of the United States Diplomacy Center, now known as the National Museum of American Diplomacy. The wide-ranging conversation in the Secretary’s suite lasted a half-hour and included his reflections of his Army service in Germany in the weeks leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Secretary and Mrs. Pompeo have shown a keen interest and strong support for the museum of American diplomacy in their statements and through their participation in numerous events in the museum’s pavilion. The Secretary expects to continue that strong support, which he considers important to his mission of strengthening American diplomacy through a public understanding of its history and practice.
Ambassador Bill Harrop, chair of the Foundation Board of Directors, and Foundation President Ambassador Roman Popadiuk reported on the status of the capital campaign and the goal to complete the museum by 2022. The discussion also centered on the steps underway to prepare and reconfigure the adjacent space of the State Department building to complete the museum and to designate the Diplomacy Center as The National Museum of American Diplomacy. The Secretary expressed his support for these efforts.
Joining Ambassadors Harrop and Popadiuk were Ambassador Ted McNamara of the Foundation Board and Susan Johnson, Foundation secretary and president of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Also participating was Mary Kane, director of the National Museum of American Diplomacy. Foundation Vice-Chair Ambassador Thomas Pickering was traveling and unable to attend.
Ambassador Harrop concluded the meeting by thanking Secretary Pompeo for the opportunity to speak with him about this important project and for the Secretary’s support.