During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, confidence in the Indonesian government plummeted. Foreign investment fled the country as the value…
Not so Sudan-ly—Six Years for Independence
Allan Reed’s extraordinary relationship with Sudan can be traced all the way back to the late 1960s, when he joined…
Jakarta on Fire: The May 1998 Riots and Indonesian Revolution
Shawn Dorman watched as Jakarta descended into violent chaos and destruction overtook the city. At the conclusion of the May…
One City, Two Countries: Manning the Mexican-U.S. Border in Nuevo Laredo
Bustling with commerce, illegal border crossings, and cocaine trafficking, in 2000, Nuevo Laredo was the third busiest visa post in…
The Struggle for Equal Rights: LGBTQ Advocacy in the Foreign Service
While working at the U.S. embassy in Seychelles in 1985, David Buss fell in love with a Peace Corps volunteer,…
Diamonds, Coal, and the Dutch Queen—NBC’s First Female Broadcaster Escapes The Netherlands in 1940
Reporting live from a shortwave radio station near the German border at the beginning of World War II, NBC’s first…
How Soviet Astronauts Met Stars in America
Two Soviet astronauts—a general and a scientist—come to visit the United States. They ride roller coasters at Disneyland, donkeys at…
Fighting LGBT Discrimination, and Fighting to Stay in the Foreign Service
Up until the late 1990s, Foreign Service careers were denied to openly gay men under the pretense of security concerns.…
“Not Treated as Beyond the Pale:” Cold War Nuclear Options to Respond to a Soviet Bloc Invasion
The mid-nineteen seventies are often considered a time of détente (the easing of tensions) between the United States and the…
Stirrings of Islamic Militancy in Nigeria: An Ambassador’s Recollections
When Thomas Pickering was Ambassador to Nigeria in 1980-83, he witnessed the stirrings of Islamic militancy and other transformations of…