Every November 10th, the United States Marine Corps celebrates its birthday with a traditional ball and cake-cutting ceremony. The first formal ball was…
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…
Sorry Mao: It’s Pronounced “Truman”, not “Too-Lu-Mun”
In 1944, John Service, Colonel David Barrett, and a small group of diplomats and military staff went to Yenan to…
Radio Free Europe: An Insider’s View
Back to Diplomats and Diplomacy Radio Free Europe: An Insider’s View Veteran RFE insider J. F. Brown’s story of the…
Bikini Bombshell: The First H-bomb Test on the Eniwetok Atoll
On November 1st, 1952 the United States detonated the world’s first hydrogen bomb on a large atoll called Eniwetok in…
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…
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…
Constance Ray Harvey, Diplomat and World War II Heroine
The life of Constance Ray Harvey at times sounded like something from the movie Casablanca. During World War II, after tours in…
Dissidents, Spies, and Attack Cartoons — Life at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba were frozen in time for more than 50 years. After the U.S. formally severed…
Halloweens Around the World
BOO! Halloween is a holiday on October 31st where costumes, tricks, and treats reign supreme. Originally a pagan holiday, Halloween is…