Life in the Foreign Service extends far beyond the office, following its officers into all realms of existence abroad, at…
Life as a Vietnam War POW
In 1966, well into the Vietnam War and three years into Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, Charles Graham Boyd took his…
A City Torn Apart: Americans in Berlin
A U.S. army tank manned by a defecting soldier crashed straight through a Berlin Wall checkpoint manned by Russian troops.…
You Know a Coup is Coming but No One will Listen: Sudan 1964
Sudan’s long history has been riddled with internal conflict. The United Kingdom and Egypt controlled Sudan for the first half…
When One of “The Murrow Boys” Became a Foreign Service Wife
Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson was the only female member of the original generation of CBS Radio war correspondents known as…
Bodies on the Doorstep: Jamaica in the 1970s
The island country of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea experienced strong economic growth following its independence in 1962. This economic…
The Panama Riots of 1964: The Beginning of the End for the Canal
When President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama in 1903, the United States gained sovereignty over the portion…
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Evacuating Liberia, 1990
Being caught up in violent political upheaval and forced to evacuate is among the risks of diplomatic service, as at…
What Have I Gotten Myself Into? Tales from Rough First Tours
Life in the Foreign Service certainly has its advantages – working in often exotic locales, meeting fascinating people, being a…
Who Let the Dogs Out? – A Pet Evacuation from Kinshasa
Dear Fido, If you’re reading this, we’ve been evacuated (and you learned how to read!…). But don’t worry ol’ pal!…