Following Melissa’s work in Paris on the European Common Market, the US State Department wanted to have her transferred to the Embassy in London, where there was an opening for a similar position. Due to the unwritten rule that husbands and wives couldn’t serve in the same post, there was resistance.
Her boss in London, Arthur Hartman, wrote many years later in a letter, “When I chose Melissa to serve with me in the Economic Section in London, I knew not only of her competence, but also that that transfer would finally break the barrier of husband and wife serving at the same post. That stupid ‘rule’ or ‘practice’ had in fact condemned women Foreign Service Officers to stay unmarried or leave the Service. Today people can’t remember the stupidity at all and we encourage (…) what are called ‘tandem couples’. Well, Melissa is the lady who broke that barrier and did it through skill, fortitude and unfailing good humor.’
Alfred resigned in 1966 from the Foreign Service after completing 25 years. He went on to study tropical architecture at the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London.
Once Alfred had retired, Melissa discovered that the amount paid by the State Department as a family allowance dropped dramatically because there had been no provision for family allowances for women. She explained this to the ambassador, David Bruce, who agreed that the rule should be changed. And it was.
When she moved from Paris to London, she was pregnant with her second son, Gregory, who was due to be born in mid-November. At that time, there was no maternity leave. She was under strong pressure to be back at work before Christmas so that her male colleagues could go on skiing trips. Years afterwards, Alfred would comment in private on how depressed she was in the early months of 1967.
Melissa Wells became the first female US diplomat to have a baby while at an overseas post.
She wrote about the UK economy and occasionally came out in the US press.
Melissa went at least twice to Buckingham Palace. Once was to accompany the Apollo 11 astronauts on a visit to Queen Elizabeth II and deliver a rock from the Moon to Prince Edward (age six), the youngest child of the queen. This was a gift that the US government reserved for special friends. Many years later, she watched the Netflix episode of The Crown about this visit and commented that the actual visit was very different.
During this period, there were several protests in London against the US involvement in the Vietnam War, often in front of the US embassy on Grosvenor Square, where she worked. On one protest in 1968, Melissa remembers watching the protests from inside the building. She greatly admired the discipline and bravery of the bobbies (the British police), who formed two human chains around the embassy, with arms locked between each policeman. “The protesters would spit at the bobbies and kick them in the groin, and the bobbies would hold firm for what seemed like hours, not reacting,” she said in awe. The bobbies held the line and no protesters entered the embassy. (Alfred, who was studying architecture, had been invited by his fellow students to go to the protests. He politely declined.)
