On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union and its pilot, Francis…
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…
Desert Storm: “The War Never Really Ended” — Part II
Chas Freeman was U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm and consulted frequently with General Norman Schwarzkopf and others…
Hard Rock Hotel Panama: Noriega and the U.S. Invasion, Part II
The U.S. and SOUTHCOM had spent considerable time and effort planning for the invasion and had mapped out several places…
Hard Rock Hotel Panama — Noriega and the U.S. Invasion, Part I
Beginning in the middle of the 1980s, relations between General Manuel Noriega, Panama’s de facto leader, and the United States…
Bob Strauss – “Hell, Mr. President, I didn’t even vote for you”
Ambassador Robert S. Strauss is one of the giants of Twentieth Century American politics and diplomacy, whose service dates back…
“It was an Unwinnable War”
George Ball was the Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He supported…
Bushels and Bales
Back to Memoirs and Occasional Papers Bushels and Bales: A Food Soldier in the Cold War “One man’s remarkable story…in…