After the 1949 defeat of the Chinese Nationalists at the hands of Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army, the newly-proclaimed People’s…
Brother, Can you Spare me some Stew?: Hot, Hungry, and Abandoned in Vietnam
Speaking a foreign language is critical in the Foreign Service and can sometimes rescue you from the diciest situations. Case…
Tracking China’s Political Change through Dazibao Posters
Chinese “big-character posters,” or dazibao, are handwritten posters mounted on walls and published in papers or pamphlets to communicate protest…
Trust In Me
Living abroad often comes with an array of challenges and frightening encounters. In the 1930s before joining the Foreign Service,…
The King and I and The Missionary’s Wife
The Foreign Service has attracted some very talented people over the years and many of those are the spouses of…
North Korea Blows up South Korean Airliner
Someone once described the dissolution of the USSR as a typical Soviet divorce — you’re no longer married but you’re…
Managing the End of the Marcos Regime
Intent on actively opposing the rule of Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos, Senator Benigno Aquino returned from exile in the U.S.…
A Peace That Couldn’t Last – Negotiating the Paris Accords on Vietnam
Signed on January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were intended to finally end the Vietnam War, which had cost…
Brunei: The Richest Little Country You’ve Never Heard Of
Brunei, situated on the northern shore of the island of Borneo in the South China Sea, is one of 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…