In September of 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the United States on an unprecedented goodwill trip spanning several days,…
Khrushchev Visits America – A Cold War Comedy of Errors, Act I
Amid the descent of the Iron Curtain, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the conflict in Vietnam lies one of…
The Assassination of Anwar Sadat, Part I
When Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords along with President…
The Joys and Perils of Serving Abroad
Back to Memoirs and Occasional Papers The Joys and Perils of Serving Abroad: Memoirs of a U.S. Foreign Service Family…
Zimbabwe — The Death of a Nation
On April 18th, 1980, Southern Rhodesia, the richest nation in Africa, officially gained independence from the United Kingdom and established…
The Suez Crisis — And A Different Side of Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser was one of the most influential modern-day leaders in the Middle East. As part of the Free…
The Headache That Is the Fourth of July Party
The Fourth of July is a celebration of the United States’ independence. It is a day of family, friends, food,…
The Nazis Take Paris
After German troops invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. Despite this, there were no…
No-tell CODELs
One of the more important tasks that an embassy deals with is the Congressional delegation or CODEL in Washington-speak. These…
The Little Emergency that was the Korean War
There was a lot of unfinished business on the Korean peninsula in the 1940’s. It had been ruled by the Empire…