ADST 2024 Annual Distinguished Speaker - Steve Coll
2024-10-01 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Dacor-Bacon House, 1801 F Street NW, DC, United States
Steve Coll – “From Ghost Wars to the Achilles Trap: Lessons from a Foreign Policy Journalist and Scholar”
Here is the video of the event: https://youtu.be/H531TCBSVb8
Please join us as award winning journalist and scholar Steve Coll shares what he has learned while researching and writing about the greatest foreign policy challenges of modern times. His most recent book, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq, drew partly from ADST’s oral history collection to explain miscalculations on both sides of the conflict. Coll won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his earlier book, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Visiting senior editor at The Economist and former Washington Post managing editor, Coll served as Dean of Columbia University’s Journalism School from 2013 to 2022. A discussion will follow his remarks.

Dealing with Dragons, Bears, and Some Nice People Too A Diplomatic Chronicle by B. Lynn Pascoe
2024-11-19 18:00 - 19:30
THE ASSOCIATION FOR DIPLOMATIC STUDIES AND TRAINING
and
DACOR, An Organization of Foreign Affairs Professionals
request the pleasure of your company at
a reception to celebrate the 76th volume in the
ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series for
“Dealing with Dragons, Bears, and Some Nice People Too A Diplomatic Chronicle”, by B. Lynn Pascoe
Tuesday, November 19, 2024, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
RSVP (Acceptances only) to programs@dacorbacon.org or 202.682.0500 x20
About the Book
To order the book
Printable order form for mailing

ADST 2025 AGM Distinguished Speaker - Evan Thomas
2025-09-18 14:00 - 15:30
Evan Thomas –“The Legacy of Henry Stimson: His Doctrine, His Decisions, and the End of World War II”
© Oscie Thomas. Posted with the author’s permission.
Please join us as award-winning journalist and scholar Evan Thomas shares his insights on the legacy of former Secretary of State and Secretary of War Henry Stimson. Thomas will draw from his research for his 2023 book Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II, examining the foundations of the Stimson Doctrine, the monumental decisions that led to the use of the atomic bomb in Japan, and what all this tells us about foreign policy today. A discussion will follow his remarks.
Thomas has published 11 books, including the Wise Men (with Walter Isaacson), Ike’s Bluff, and New York Times bestsellers Being Nixon and First: Sandra Day O’Connor. He was a writer and editor for over 30 years at Time and Newsweek magazines, including 10 years as Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief, and has appeared on many TV shows, including Meet the Press, CBS Morning News, the Colbert Report, and PBS’s Charlie Rose. Thomas taught writing and journalism at Harvard and Princeton, where, from 2007-2014, he was Ferris Professor of Journalism.
[Register to attend in person] [Register to participate virtually]

Special Book Event with Charles Trueheart: Diplomats at War
2025-10-14 18:00 - 20:00
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]

ADST’s 40th anniversary and launch of the 77th volume in the ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series
2026-02-10 18:30 - 20:00
THE ASSOCIATION FOR DIPLOMATIC STUDIES AND TRAINING and DACOR, An Organization of Foreign Affairs Professionals request the pleasure of your company as we celebrate ADST’s 40th anniversary with a reception to launch the 77th volume in the ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series: REPRESENTING AMERICA: Firsthand Accounts from A Century of U.S. Diplomacy.
Edited by
ROBIN MATTHEWMAN

RSVP (Acceptances only) to info@adst.org; Or to (202) 627-8939
Books will be for sale at the event or at Amazon here.
ABOUT THE BOOK
