During his opening remarks at the Munich Security Conference in February 2020, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared that “[I]n…
Surviving the Storm—Turkey’s Labor Movements Under a Junta
In the late 1970s, Turkey faced intense political fragmentation as its parties each struggled for a majority; due to lack…
Atomic Age Uncertainty—Tension Between the United States and the Soviet Union
One of the most defining moments of the twentieth century was the detonation of an atomic bomb over the Japanese…
Rough Landing: Controlled Aircraft Crash in Honduras
Towards the end of his posting in Honduras, Ambassador Frank Almaguer received multiple requests from other countries’ ambassadors for transportation…
The Aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis in Indonesia
During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, confidence in the Indonesian government plummeted. Foreign investment fled the country as the value…
Stephen Thuransky’s 1947 Escape from Hungarian Political Police
Stephen T. Thuransky was arrested for calling the president of Hungary an obscene name. Communist Hungary in 1947 was a…
Stirrings of Islamic Militancy in Nigeria: An Ambassador’s Recollections
When Thomas Pickering was Ambassador to Nigeria in 1980-83, he witnessed the stirrings of Islamic militancy and other transformations of…
Freezing in the Dark: the First Years of the USAID Mission in Ukraine
Using candles for light, huddling into the warmest room, tapping into government telephone lines to make calls—these were the conditions…
Strobe Talbott: From Foreign Affairs Journalist to Number Two at the Department of State
What is it like to transition from the senior ranks of American journalism to a top job in an agency…
Travelling with First Lady Hillary Clinton to Romania: “She was Quite Incredible.”
As First Lady, Hillary Clinton traveled extensively to Central and Eastern Europe in order to foster ties with foreign governments…