Après-Midi Recap

William Jordan’s topic for this session was From Dhahran to Paris: How a Reluctant Arabist Became an Accidental Parisian

He is a retired U.S. diplomat who has lived outside of the U.S. for 27 of the past 39 years, and was in the Foreign Service for 30 years (1981-2011) as a political officer specializing in the Arab world and France. His overseas assignments included Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan and Algeria and his responsibilities included reporting and analyzing foreign policy trends (especially as they related to the United States), as well as internal politics, including the rise of radical Islamist forces.

If you watch France24, the national news channel that broadcasts in French, English and Arabic, then you may have seen William Jordan comment on a variety of issues. He’s also the ‘man in the know’ for BBC Radio, Radio France International and lectures on foreign affairs at the French Ecole Militaire and at the Paris campus of New York University. William is a former president of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas. In addition to that, he has joined the board of the St. Petersburg (Florida, not Russia) Conference on World Affairs. He’s one of those Americans in Paris who has made important contributions to our lives and of whom we, as Americans, are unduly proud.

He didn’t get to France in the usual way. In fact, he got here rather reluctantly, but never looked back. William’s story was unusual in certain senses, but followed most of our own appreciation of France in many ways. In this PowerPoint presentation, he takes us from his beginnings to now, as a retired diplomat who has lived all over the world and seen A LOT. He’s now devoted to the American community in France and helping others realize a similar outcome as an expatriate living the good life in France.

If you couldn’t be there, you don’t have to miss the session! Be sure to watch the video of the entire session.