Dean Rusk served as Secretary of State for eight controversial years, from 1961 through 1969, when public discomfort over his…
Persecution of the Kurds: The Documents of Saddam’s Secret Police
The Kurds have had a long and troubled history in Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein tens of thousands of Kurds were…
“The Six-Day Miracle”: The 1967 War and How It Changed Israel
“This is a fight for the homeland – it is either us or the Israelis…. Any of the old Palestine…
Top Ten Things You Learn From a Hostage Situation
Sometimes it just ain’t easy working for the State Department. If you go through the lengthy history of the Foreign Service…
James A. Baker III — The Velvet Hammer
James A. Baker served as the Secretary of State during the Presidency of George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1992,…
April Fool’s Day in the Foreign Service
The State Department is not exactly known for its jocularity but once in a while, it can have its fair…
Ariel Sharon Launches an Attack — Against the U.S. Ambassador
Ariel Sharon, who died January 2014 after eight years in a coma, was not known for his calm and easygoing…
The Burning of the JFK Library in Cairo — Thanksgiving Day, 1964
On November 28, 1964 — Thanksgiving Day — several hundred students from the Congo and elsewhere set fire to the…
The Shot Felt ‘Round the World — Reactions to the JFK Assassination
On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while traveling with his wife in a…
444 Days — The End Game
The 444-day-long Iran Hostage Crisis ranks as one of the most traumatic diplomatic events in U.S. history and even thirty…