How to Become an Ambassador with Thomas Armbruster, a former member of the State Department
Just what is it like to be an ambassador? What does being a diplomat in the Foreign Service mean? Is this something we can do at any age? How is it life-changing?
Tom Armbruster is our guest today. With his many years of diplomatic experience, he served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands under President Barack Obama, from 2012-2016. His book How to Become an Ambassador draws from an active career with the State Department, one that has taken him to Russia, Cuba, Finland, Tajikistan, Denmark, Colombia, Bangladesh, and across the globe. He also holds the distinction of being the only American diplomat to arrive by kayak in the Soviet Union.
The book weaves together a memoir and a how-to motif to tell a unique, edifying story. Among other things, Tom goes into detail regarding the ins and outs of what it takes to achieve an ambassadorship, how the Cold War has impacted diplomacy, how he worked with the Pentagon to clean up a World War II-era battleship threatening a reef in the Marshall Islands, and about his nomination of the 2014 Civil Society Speaker to whom the U.N. delegates gave a standing ovation.
