It wasn’t just soldiers. USAID officer George Laudato was at his home in Mỹ Tho in 1968 when mortars started…
Embassies: “An Artifact of an Earlier Age?”
Do embassies still matter? Donna Oglesby, a senior official at the United States Information Agency (before it was incorporated into…
Talking to Soviet Soldiers During the 1991 Coup Attempt: A U.S. Defense Attaché’s Tale
James Cox knew that Soviet officers would stonewall a foreigner like him, but there was a chance that regular soldiers…
Pakistan, Population, and Development in the Early 1960s
You might never guess that the work of a USAID Program Economist could result in a trip to the Vatican…
African-American Ambassadors
As challenging as it is for anyone to become and serve as Ambassador for the United States, the hurdles are…
Washington Demands and Disaster Assistance: USAID and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake
Lewis Lucke was called out of retirement in 2010 to coordinate USAID’s response to the disastrous 7.0 magnitude Haitian earthquake,…
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…
Frank Carlucci: Helping Block the Communists in Portugal
After decades of right-wing dictatorship, Portugal faced a threat of a takeover by communists in the mid-1970s. Ambassador Frank Carlucci,…
A Diplomat Recalls Escape From a Kidnapping in Uruguay
Kidnappings, particularly those of high-ranking political officials, were not uncommon in 1970s Uruguay given the prominence of an urban guerilla…
James Baldwin: The Expatriate Who Fought for His Country
James Baldwin is counted among the greatest and most influential of American authors. He died in 1987 at the age…