Beginning in April 1948, the USSR blocked Western Allies’ access to Berlin as a means of protesting the introduction of…
Frances Willis, The First Career Female Ambassador
Frances Willis was the first female to rise to the rank of Ambassador as a career Foreign Service Officer. After…
The Long Arm of History — Kurt Waldheim Banned for his Nazi Past
On June 8th, 1986, Kurt Waldheim was elected President of Austria. The former Secretary General of the United Nations and…
The Berlin Crisis of 1961
In the early years of the Cold War, Berlin repeatedly became the focal point of tension between the U.S. and…
The Marshall Plan — “The Europeans did the job themselves”
After World War II, Europe was recovering from the devastation of conflict and suffered from high unemployment and food shortages;…
Burnt Toast in Moscow: A Tradition Gone Horrible Awry
Russian banquets (and, of course, Russian drinking) are legendary, as tradition dictates that every drink be accompanied by a toast…
The Longest Day — Tales from D-Day, 1944
The June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy marked the beginning of the end of World War II. Planning for what would…
Normalizing Ties with Franco: “I don’t have to like the son of a bitch, do I?”
For many people, Spain in the 1930s and 40s was a country of despair, where the dreams of democracy and…
Rebel With a Cause — Struggling with the Armenian Genocide
2015 marks the 100th anniversary of what a number of international organizations, countries, and even some U.S. states formally recognize…
The Nazi Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
Axis military efforts in the Balkans, compared with the rest of Europe, had not gone well. Italy had invaded Greece…