Long before he was President Reagan’s Secretary of Defense, Frank Carlucci was a young State Department political officer in Kinshasa,…
In Their Own Voices
In Their Own Voices, previously known as Poor Richard’s Podcasts, takes different moments in diplomatic history and brings them to…
Strobe Talbott: From Foreign Affairs Journalist to Number Two at the Department of State
What is it like to transition from the senior ranks of American journalism to a top job in an agency…
A Reluctant Welcome From Notorious Warlords in Afghanistan
A USAID officer secured a meeting with two senior and notorious Afghan warlords in the late 1980s when he appeared…
Whistle-Blowing on American Corruption in Russia
USAID unearthed a major corruption scandal in Russia in the late 1990s involving Harvard University’s Institute for International Development. Dr.…
Tracking the Politics of Burma (Myanmar) After the Flawed 1990 Elections
While democratic elections were held in Burma (Myanmar) by the military-led government in 1990, the elected parliament was never allowed…
When a Newly-Elected President Putin Welcomed USAID’s Advice
President Putin once welcomed USAID’s assistance (at least for a time). Carol Peasley served as USAID’s mission director in Moscow…
Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Visit to France for the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion
In 1994 Avis Bohlen, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, was made Hillary Clinton’s Control…
Cold War Cover Stories: The U-2 Incident
On May 1, 1960, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 spy…
Edward Elson: Entrepreneurial Ambassador to Denmark
The fall of the Soviet Union upset long-established power dynamics, leaving East and Central Europe, in particular, in uncharted waters.…