With a presidential visit comes months of preparation and stress. While big embassies with hundreds of staff members are often…
Making the Most of Adversity: Managing the Consular Section in Guangzhou, China
Adversity can often bring out the best in those who are willing to rise to the challenges it throws at…
Working as a Woman in Intelligence: Alice Shurcliff
Unlike many women’s stories that highlight the immense challenges women face, Alice Shurcliff highlights in her oral history advantages she…
Peace Corps to Ambassador: Darryl Johnson in Thailand
Many young people enter the Peace Corps with the idea, if not the outright goal, that they might eventually become…
Resolving the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Issue—Treaty of Bangkok
During the 1990s, there were many international agreements created to limit nuclear weapons and the potential consequential effects of deploying…
Investing in China as its Economy Starts to Take Off in the 1990s
China’s economic transformation launched its economy to new heights during the 1990s, allowing it to have a stronger international presence.…
In the Heat of the Cold War: Diplomats in a Divided Germany
Ever since the Foreign Service’s infancy, Foreign Service spouses have traveled with their partners to all corners of the world,…
One Size Fits None—U.S. Reform Dilemmas in South Africa
One reform to fix them all. What could be more ideal than this? Unfortunately, such a dream will forever lie…
Nettling the New Guard—PNGed out of Singapore
Singapore’s story of economic success under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew has catapulted the nation to the status of…
Backchannels at Home: The Relationship Between Congress and the Foreign Service
In 1979 Congress did something both bold and unusual. That year, President Carter was attempting to build a stronger relationship…