On December 21, 1988, Pan American flight 103 flying from London Heathrow to JFK Airport in New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270, including 11 people on the ground. Following a three-year investigation, murder warrants were issued in November 1991 for two Libyans. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi eventually handed them over for trial in 1999… Read More "The Lockerbie Bombing and Its Aftermath"
The Dramatic Hostage Crisis and Daring Rescue at the Japanese Embassy in Peru
It sounds like something out of a novel: a group of rebels, helped by an American, seize an embassy in a South American country and hold dozens of people hostage for more than four months. Indeed, the Japanese Embassy hostage crisis inspired the 2001 best-selling novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, winner of the PEN/Faulkner… Read More "The Dramatic Hostage Crisis and Daring Rescue at the Japanese Embassy in Peru"
Life at Embassy Tokyo After Pearl Harbor
Despite getting extremely close to agreeing to negotiations to avert hostilities, the U.S. and Japan failed to make peace and Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th, 1941. In these excerpts from his memoirs, Robert A. Fearey, at the time private secretary to Ambassador to Japan Joseph C. Grew, describes the surprisingly pleasant conditions of daily… Read More "Life at Embassy Tokyo After Pearl Harbor"
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 newly christened John F. Kennedy Library, completely burning it to the ground. The Congo had been in a state of chaos after being granted independence from Belgium in 1960. After the Soviets intervened on behalf… Read More "The Burning of the JFK Library in Cairo — Thanksgiving Day, 1964"
József Mindszenty: The Cardinal who Lived in Embassy Budapest
József Mindszenty was a Roman Catholic cardinal ordained shortly after World War II who staunchly resisted the fascist and later Communist governments that ruled Hungary. His fierce opposition to the new regime led to his arrest on December 26, 1948; he was accused of treason and conspiracy. He was forced to confess to a host of crimes,… Read More "József Mindszenty: The Cardinal who Lived in Embassy Budapest"
El Salvador, the Sheraton Hotel Siege and the Jesuit Murders — November 1989
The civil war in El Salvador lasted from 1979-1992 and was fought between the government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of five leftist guerrilla groups that attempted a military coup in 1979, which was followed by many violent attacks on the government and civilians. On November 11, 1989, twenty armed guerrillas stormed the… Read More "El Salvador, the Sheraton Hotel Siege and the Jesuit Murders — November 1989"
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 years later still colors diplomatic relations with Iran. In these excerpts, John Limbert describes the negotiations that eventually led to the release of all the hostages Iranian Revolutionaries attacked the embassy, their (surprisingly) triumphant arrival in… Read More "444 Days — The End Game"
444 Days: Memoirs of an Iran Hostage
More than thirty years later, the Iran Hostage crisis still ranks as one of the most traumatic diplomatic events in U.S. history. Dissatisfied with the corrupt and ineffective regime of Reza Shah Pahlavi, many Iranian citizens began protesting the Iranian government in 1977. In 1979 after nearly two years of protests and strikes, the Shah was… Read More "444 Days: Memoirs of an Iran Hostage"
The Assassination of Anwar Sadat, Part II
As a result of Anwar Sadat’s growing authoritarianism and treatment of his opposition, tensions in Egypt began rising shortly after the Camp David Accords were signed. Regular Egyptians were unsatisfied with the treaty’s results in addition to the state of the economy. His own security people had become increasingly concerned, as Sadat did not like… Read More "The Assassination of Anwar Sadat, Part II"
The Assassination of Anwar Sadat, Part I
When Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords along with President Jimmy Carter in September 1978, it was hailed as a major breakthrough, a hard-won compromise that was meant to bring peace to the region and serve as a building block for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace. However,… Read More "The Assassination of Anwar Sadat, Part I"