May 15th, 1955, was a momentous occasion for a war-battered Europe, and for the national history of Austria as the…
How a Former Secretary of State Won an Ancient Temple for Cambodia
Like many nations, Thailand and Cambodia share the colonial legacy of an ambiguous border which has led to violent conflict.…
George Kennan — Containment and the Cold War
George Frost Kennan was, and still remains, a very controversial and legendary figure in American diplomatic history. As a historian,…
Getting Kosovo Right: Working to Avoid Another Bosnia
Yugoslavia had long been a simmering caldron of ethnic and nationalist tensions. After the death of Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz…
John Foster Dulles – Master Craftsman, Man of Paradox
President Dwight Eisenhower appointed John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State in January 1953, a job he held until almost…
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Nixon vs. Khrushchev — The 1959 Kitchen Debate
It was undoubtedly one of the most unorthodox – and therefore memorable – settings for a major political debate. On…
Douglas MacArthur, America’s Emperor of Japan
He was a general’s general, tough, unrelenting, a man who embraced the role history thrust on him. He was also…
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…
Brazil’s Long Detour on the Road to Democracy
Brazil’s path to democracy was far from perfect and often tortuous. In 1961, a “possibly half insane” Janio Quadros was…
Averell Harriman, The Old Crocodile of Diplomacy
W. Averell Harriman was one of the more prominent public figures of the 20th Century, holding major positions in diplomacy,…