Ambassador’s career always on the move

Clyde Bishop can lean back in his chair and gaze out his window at the waves lapping the Pacific island shore. He can close his eyes and focus on the sounds of the surf and of the tropical trade winds blowing softly through the palm trees. He can step outside and bask in 80-degree temperatures even on a midwinter day.

Bishop, CHEP ’76PhD, knows that many people would consider this setting a perfect spot for a restful retirement. For the Delaware native, however, his new home in the Republic of the Marshall Islands represents the pinnacle of his career as a diplomat, complete with new responsibilities and challenges.

Bishop took office as the island nation’s newest U.S. ambassador in December. After a 25-year career in the Foreign Service Office—moving up in rank and tenure while also moving his household lock, stock and barrel from one country to another every three years or so—Bishop was nominated by President George W. Bush for promotion to ambassador last year.

The Senate confirmed the appointment on Sept. 29, and Bishop was sworn in at a State Department ceremony in Washington, D.C., two months later. He and his wife, Cynthia DePaulo, AS ’76, arrived Dec. 5 in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro, where Bishop presented his credentials and formally took office “about three hours after our plane landed,” he says. The previous ambassador had moved on from the post in July, and Bishop says he was eager to get to work as soon as possible.

In his first months as ambassador, he says he’s found the western Pacific nation of about 60,000 residents to be “different and challenging and unlike anywhere I’ve been before.” He describes the Marshallese people as “very warm and supportive of the United States” and the relationship between the two countries as close.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands, which consists of five major islands and 29 smaller atolls, was under Japanese control until the United States seized it during World War II and made it a U.S. territory. The islands became a self-governing republic in 1986, but under a Compact of Free Association signed that year, they rely heavily on U.S. economic aid. The largest atoll, Kwajalein, is the site of a sizable American military base and tracking station. Two other atolls, Bikini and Enewetak, were evacuated by the U.S. government in the 1940s and used as nuclear testing sites.

“The Compact of Free Association is in effect through 2023, when it’s assumed the Republic of the Marshall Islands will be self-sustaining,” Bishop says. “In the meantime, the United States provides significant support in terms of economic and infrastructure development and support for the social, health and educational systems. The U.S. ambassador plays a big role in the daily life of the Marshallese.”

The responsibilities, he says, mean long workdays as well as attending evening events and not much time for relaxing on the beach. As ambassador, Bishop represents the U.S. president in all areas except the military, and he oversees the embassy’s staff of about 16 permanent employees.

His career in the Foreign Service has progressed steadily from assignment to assignment over the years and has taken him from his first post in Palermo, Italy, in 1981 to stints in Seoul, South Korea; Rio de Janeiro (“one of my favorite postings—we enjoyed it so much that we extended it and stayed an additional year”); India; Hong Kong (“I was there in 1997 for the handover from British colony to the People’s Republic of China—I wanted to be part of that historic event, but we had to work so hard with all the visiting journalists and dignitaries that I never got to see any of the ceremonies!”); and the Dominican Republic, where he was serving as consul general when he got a call asking if he was interested in the Marshall Islands ambassadorship.

Bishop’s oversees assignments have been interspersed with some domestic positions, including one at State Department headquarters in Washington. He calls that administrative job “necessary for my career but not nearly as interesting as living abroad.”

On the other hand, one of his best experiences in the Foreign Service also came in the United States, he says, when he was selected to take part in a prestigious leadership program in which he crisscrossed the country meeting with governors, mayors, business people and community organizations.

“It was one of the most informative and interesting experiences I’ve had,” he says. “I got to see a lot of the United States and meet a lot of people. I even spent some time living and working on a family farm in Indiana—not a big agribusiness operation but a real family farm—which was a tremendous learning experience.”

Bishop also spent two years as diplomat-in-residence at City College of New York, where he says he enjoyed telling students about the Foreign Service and opening their eyes to potential careers they may never have considered.

That recruiting work was especially meaningful to Bishop, who himself found his life’s work entirely by accident. After graduating from Delaware State University in 1964, he married and had two children, Sean and Jeanne, while working various jobs. Unable to find a career he wanted to continue, he decided to return to school.

“I heard about the urban affairs program at the University of Delaware, and it interested me because it was a unique, interdisciplinary graduate program,” he says. “It integrated economic, political and social policy issues, and that made sense to me because it seemed to fit the way things are in the real world.”

Bishop, whose first marriage had ended in divorce, met student Cynthia DePaulo at UD when he answered her ad offering her services as a typist. She typed his doctoral dissertation, and the two later married and now have traveled the world together.

After graduate school, Bishop continued to explore various jobs. One day, while commuting by train from work in New York City to his home in Philadelphia, he picked up a copy of Black Enterprise magazine and read an article about the Foreign Service. On impulse, he filled out an attached postcard to request more information and mailed it off to the State Department. “And the rest is history,” he says with a laugh.

Bishop and his wife have missed a lot of family milestones and holiday gatherings over the years, but they find their life with the Foreign Service “exhilarating and exciting,” he says.

“We both enjoy the diversity that you encounter when you move from one country to another,” he says. “The Foreign Service isn’t like taking a one- or two-week vacation to the Caribbean; it’s full-scale immersion in a different culture. You make your home there, at least for a few years, and you interact with everyone from the movers and shakers to the everyday people.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s an enjoyable one.”

—Ann Manser, AS ’73

More about the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Description: Two archipelagic island chains made up of five islands and 29 coral atolls

Location: North Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia

Area: About the size of Washington, D.C.

Climate: Tropical, hot and humid

Terrain: Low coral limestone and sand islands

Population (2006, estimated): 60,422

Ethnic groups: Micronesian

Official languages: Marshallese and English

Predominant religions: Protestant, Assembly of God and Roman Catholic

Adult literacy rate: 93.7 percent

Form of government: Constitutional, in free association with the United States

Capital: Majuro

President (elected by Parliament for a four-year term): Kessai Note

Independence: Oct. 21, 1986

Currency: U.S. dollar

Unemployment rate (2000, estimated): 30.9 percent

Commercial crops: Coconuts, breadfruit

Industries: Copra, tuna processing, tourism, handicrafts

Source: CIA World Factbook