World War II brought great uncertainty in its aftermath. The rise of Anti-Right and Anti-Left wing movements, for example, contributed…
“Open Space at the Top of the World”—Defending the Thule Air Force Base in Greenland and Denmark
The purview of an ambassador in a U.S. embassy extends beyond the geographical borders of their host nation and into…
Leveraging a Unique Perspective in Manila Amid Heightened Tensions
Robert H. Stern’s life as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) took him in many different directions all across the globe.…
Protecting Greenland: The American Consulate at Godthab, 1940-42
During World War II, Nazi Germany invaded and occupied continental Denmark, leaving the Kingdom’s other two territories, the Faroe Islands…
Edward Elson: Entrepreneurial Ambassador to Denmark
The fall of the Soviet Union upset long-established power dynamics, leaving East and Central Europe, in particular, in uncharted waters.…
Chipping Away at Czechoslovak Communism: The Helsinki Final Act and Charter 77
The Solidarity Movement. Perestroika and Glasnost. The fall of the Berlin Wall. All of these movements, policies, or events had…
When Archaeology Meets Diplomacy: The Dig at Herculaneum
When Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 AD, it famously engulfed the Roman town of Pompeii and, less famously, the…
Julia Chang Bloch’s Whole-of-Mission Approach in Nepal
In 1990, Nepal’s centuries-long history of monarchical rule and more recent autocratic substitutes were finally brought to an end in…
Ambassador Skip Gnehm on the Middle East
The Middle East has been a complicated, if not violent, region for millennia, which has only been exacerbated by recent…
Oil, Blood and Steel: The Failed Attempt to Create a Democratic Congo
This is the story of how a corrupt multinational oil company, a self-centered dictator, lingering ethnic tensions, and lack of…