The purview of an ambassador in a U.S. embassy extends beyond the geographical borders of their host nation and into…
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.…
George Hermann “Christmas Time”
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” This part of a song would describe the Christmases spent by George…
Combating Terrorism in Iraq and Syria: Stephen Kontos and the Counter-ISIS Coalition
In the midst of war, terrorism, and instability, Stephen Kontos was tasked with uniting a coalition to combat one of…
A Growing Community: The Early Days of EU Enlargement
When people think of the European Union (EU), they think of Brexit. They think of the rise of nationalism and…
Let There be Productivity—U.S. Aid Efforts in Europe and India
The world bore witness to an unprecedented degree of violence and destruction in the wake of the Second World War.…
The Struggle for Equal Rights: LGBTQ Advocacy in the Foreign Service
While working at the U.S. embassy in Seychelles in 1985, David Buss fell in love with a Peace Corps volunteer,…
African-American Ambassadors
As challenging as it is for anyone to become and serve as Ambassador for the United States, the hurdles are…
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…
When One of “The Murrow Boys” Became a Foreign Service Wife
Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson was the only female member of the original generation of CBS Radio war correspondents known as…