Special Book Event with Charles Trueheart

Diplomats at War:  Friendship and Betrayal on the  Brink of the Vietnam Conflict 

           Tuesday, October 14, 2025

6:00 – 8:00 PM

            DACOR Bacon House, 1801 F Street NW 

Please join us as ADST and DACOR host journalist and scholar Charles Trueheart for reflections on his recent book Diplomats at War, winner of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s 2024 Douglas Dillon Award. In a book that is part family memoir and part historical exploration, Trueheart offers new insights into the diplomats at the center of U.S.-Vietnam relations in the fateful year of 1963 as our nations lurched toward all-out war. As son of the embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission and godson of the U.S. Ambassador, Trueheart witnessed an unraveling he has masterfully captured in this engrossing and heartfelt account that demonstrates the value of oral history in understanding diplomacy. He will deliver remarks in an interview format with Christopher Klein, recent Deputy Chief of Mission in Hanoi, and sign books after the event. Purchase Diplomats at War at the event or pre-order it below. 

Charles Trueheart’s long career as a journalist and nonprofit executive included 15 years as a Washington Post correspondent and 10 years as director of the American Library in Paris. A graduate of Amherst College, Trueheart worked as a journalist across the United States and as a correspondent in Canada and France. Across his career, he served as associate director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, director of the Kennedy School’s Public Affairs Forum and counselor and speechwriter for the U.S. Ambassador to France. His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The American Scholar, and other publications.

[Register to attend]                         [Pre-order the Book]