Author: Liz Dee

One of the most defining moments of the twentieth century was the detonation of an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Not only did it hasten the end of the Second World War, but also ushered in a new era for international conflict, fraught with uncertainty and the recognition of a latent rivalry… Read More "Atomic Age Uncertainty—Tension Between the United States and the Soviet Union"

Prior to mid-August 1960, the United States had limited diplomatic activity in the French African colonies. However, within a 48-hour time span, Alan Wood Lukens, the U.S. Consul in Brazzaville, suddenly had plenty to do when the French announced a rapid withdrawal from their African colonies. This action suddenly promoted him de facto as the… Read More "An Embassy in Brazzaville During the Time of Independence"

At the beginning of the 1960s, U.S. foreign policy had two bugbears: the Soviet Union and Cuba. Fidel Castro had come to power in 1959, and the United States wished to prevent another Cuban Revolution with policies like the Alliance for Progress, designed to forestall revolutionary tendencies by encouraging moderate reforms. But the United States… Read More "Dealing with a Leftist Dipsomaniac: The United States and Ecuador’s Carlos Arosemena"

For policymakers to make the right decisions, it is crucial that they first have the right information. With this in mind, career U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officer Terrence Brown used his position as the USAID Mission Director in Guatemala to correct discrepancies in diplomatic reporting on the Guatemalan political economy in the early… Read More "Setting the Record Straight: Accountability in Reporting on the Guatemalan Economy"

In 1966, well into the Vietnam War and three years into Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, Charles Graham Boyd took his eighty-eighth mission into Hanoi to search and destroy anti-aircraft missiles. It was during this mission that Boyd was shot down by Vietnamese artillery and landed in the unfortunate location of an enemy rice paddy. He… Read More "Life as a Vietnam War POW"

As we renew conversations in the United States about what liberty and justice for all truly looks like, we must reflect on our past. At the State Department, these conversations have long been important to our diplomats; they have prompted many to speak up, to create changes that make the agency a more inclusive and… Read More "Justice and Equality: Stories of Progress and Personal Diplomacy in the State Department"

Robert H. Stern’s life as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) took him in many different directions all across the globe. He served in the Philippines at the end of the 1960s, when tensions in the region between Americans and native Asians were escalating due to the war in Vietnam. As an FSO responsible for issuing… Read More "Leveraging a Unique Perspective in Manila Amid Heightened Tensions"

Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) must constantly be on alert for security threats, which can sneak up during the most unexpected times. Oftentimes when FSOs arrive at a new post, they may expect to be greeted by friendly faces who are ready to welcome them to their new country. However, even these simple, lively occasions can… Read More "A Not-So-Quiet Arrival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia"

As the Cold War died down, U.S. assistance to Latin America shifted focus to a new war: the war on drugs. For many, the TV show Narcos, the story of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and the dramatic showdown that led to his demise, summarizes this new focus of U.S. foreign policy—and emphasizes the role… Read More "Fighting the War on Drugs with Bus Stops and Law Books: USAID in Bolivia"

The checkered history between Russia and the United States was arguably the most transformational relationship for world events in the second half of the twentieth century. The ideological struggle between communism and capitalism waged under the dark cloud of potential nuclear annihilation led to the development of several arms control agreements like the SALT (Strategic… Read More "Keeping the Skies Open: Defending the Open Skies Treaty"