With his infamous Wheeling, West Virginia speech on February 9, 1950, in which he declared he had a list of…
President Nixon Meant to Thank Faisal, not Faisal
Less than a month before President Richard Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, he took a presidential tour of the…
“You’re nothing but a two-bit dictator” – Dealing with the DR’s Rafael Trujillo
Known as “El Jefe,” or “The Chief,” Rafael Trujillo ruled as dictator of the Dominican Republic for more than 30…
The Show Trial of U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers
On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union and its pilot, Francis…
Four Days in September — The Kidnapping of the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil
It sounds like something out of Hollywood. Indeed, it was made into a Brazilian movie in 1997 with Alan Arkin…
The Assassination of Ambassador Spike Dubs — Kabul, 1979
Adolph “Spike” Dubs was a career diplomat who served in Germany, Liberia, and the Soviet Union. He became a noted Soviet expert, and in…
Ignoring Washington for the Sake of Argentina
While human rights in foreign policy has generally enjoyed broad bipartisan support for several years now, it was not always…
The USS Pueblo Incident — Assassins in Seoul, A Spy Ship Captured
January of 1968 saw two of the most serious incidents to occur on the Korean peninsula since the end of…
Incoming! Surviving SCUD Attacks in Dhahran
Ken Stammerman was economic counselor in Kuwait from 1986 to 1987 before becoming consul general in Dhahran in 1989. Home…
A Real Life “Thunderball”: The Day the U.S. Lost Hydrogen Bombs in Spain
The March 2009 edition of Time magazine called it one of the world’s “worst nuclear disasters.” On January 17, 1966, a B-52…