In the heat of the Iran-Iraq War, paranoia and uncertainty engulfed the region, with many American allies looking to the…
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…
Saving Political Prisoners in the Aftermath of the 1985 Presidential Election in Liberia
On November 12, 1985, exiled General Thomas Quiwonkpa invaded Liberia through Sierra Leone to launch a coup against President Doe.…
“Encouraging” Soviet Workmen in 1984—Vodka, Cigarettes, and Snow Plowing in Soviet Russia
The currency of Soviet Russia was the ruble—or was it? When General Services Officer Robert Weisberg was posted to the…
“A Special Place in My Heart:” Memories of USAID in Vietnam
Images of the U.S. military in Vietnam are part of the American consciousness. But these images are only part of…
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.…
Rich in Oil and Rich in Corruption — Nigeria in the Early 1970s
Oil boomed. Revenue skyrocketed. So did political corruption, economic dependency, and environmental degradation. The dramatic spike in oil production in…
Freezing in the Dark: the First Years of the USAID Mission in Ukraine
Using candles for light, huddling into the warmest room, tapping into government telephone lines to make calls—these were the conditions…
Frank Carlucci and the Last Days of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo
Long before he was President Reagan’s Secretary of Defense, Frank Carlucci was a young State Department political officer in Kinshasa,…
Lessons Learned: USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake
USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is perhaps the world’s premier international disaster assistance agency. It was not always…