About James E. (Jim) Patterson

Award-winning diplomat, economist, and journalist James Patterson is a life member of the American Foreign Service Assoc., life member of Auburn Univ. Alumni Assoc., member Alabama and Indiana State Societies in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the National Foreign Affairs Center, Arlington Hall. He did graduate studies at Georgetown Univ. on the economic and agricultural policies of the European Union and the United Kingdom. He is a former elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Foggy Bottom (Ward Two/SMD2A04), in D.C. He is a Friend of Gerald R. Ford Pres. Found., Grand Rapids, MI. (In 1976, Patterson worked for the Ford Presidential campaign in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. (Uncommitted delegates from Mississippi helped Ford prevail over challenger Ronald Reagan at the convention.)

As a U.S. diplomat, Patterson worked on the Iran-Iraq War, the First Gulf War, inter-agency export sales assistance for Jordan and Israel, and other Mideast issues. He survived earthquakes (6.5 magnitude), assaults, and intestinal parasites in Mexico City where he did early work implementing NAFTA I. In Rio de Janeiro, Patterson met international tennis stars Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles. When agents from the former Yugoslavia attempted to abduct Seles, Patterson's U.S. delegation was involved in a tense international situation. In Ireland, Patterson prevented a bombing at the Bank of Ireland, and he gained the gift of eloquence by kissing the Blarney Stone. While in the UK, Patterson received a blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rt. Rev. Dr. George Carey, and in Liverpool, he met Buddy Holly’s widow. In 1994, Senator Jesse Helms tried to get Patterson fired for “promoting the gay agenda.” While Helms mistook Patterson for a gay man with the same name, Patterson was an outspoken supporter of his LGBT federal colleagues. ?He was profiled in the New York Times in 1995.

Patterson’s dad, a Korean veteran, served with Alabama’s Army National Guard (1962-67) for the Cuban Missile Crisis, the integration of the Univ. of Alabama, and the third Selma to Montgomery civil rights march led by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2014, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley posthumously honored the senior Patterson for his service to “Alabama, the nation and the world.” The younger Patterson appears as a reporter in 2014’s Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning “Selma.” In 2018, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey commissioned Patterson as an Honorary Colonel in Alabama’s National Guard. His mom was named Helen in honor of Alabamian Helen Keller. He is an alumnus of the Honor Society Alpha Zeta. President George H.W. Bush awarded Patterson a Federal Employee Point of Light Award for his work on hunger with D.C. area food banks.

In California, 2007-2016, he held a security level position at the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, San Francisco, CA, during the Oscar Grant protests, PG&E’s gas explosion in San Bruno, the 2011 sniper attack on PG&E’s Metcalf substation, the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, and the killing of Kate Steinle in San Francisco. In 2014, President Barack Obama invited Patterson to the White House for the unveiling of the Harvey Milk Forever Stamp. ?

He is a commentator for Al Jazeera Media Group, Washington, D.C. and Doha, Qatar; and Indus News, Lahore, Pakistan. A longtime Washingtonian, Patterson’s journalism, reviews and essays appear in Washington Post, Korean War Veterans Magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Times, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Service Journal, Baltimore Sun, New York Daily News, Choices, The Writer, Raleigh (NC) News and Observer, The Hill, Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser, Writer’s Digest, New York Episcopalian, Agricultural History, National Guard, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Des Moines (Iowa) Register, Mobile (Alabama) Press-Register, AL.com, TheHill.com, Auburn Magazine, Alabama Living, Opelika-Auburn News (Alabama), Opelika (Alabama) Observer, Agricultural Education Magazine, Journal of Food Distribution Research, World Grain, Social Science Computer Review, many more. He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, The Authors Guild, and the National Writers Union. He is a former member of the Alabama Press Association. From 1996-2006, he wrote Washington Scene, a political commentary column, for Alabama and Georgia newspapers.

James Patterson [email protected] Travels internationally from Washington, D.C.

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