On the same day that the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, US diplomat Chuck Hunter witnessed police forces…
Peace Corps to Ambassador: Thomas Hull in Sierra Leone
Thomas Hull was undaunted by Sierra Leone’s reputation as “the white man’s grave” when he set out as a Peace…
Restoring Trust and Preserving the U.S.-Japan Alliance: The 1995 Okinawa Rape Incident
It’s hard to imagine U.S. foreign policy in East Asia without its closest partner and ally in the region: Japan.…
“I Get It:” Experiential Learning in Ecuadorian Narcotics Control
In the late eighties, drug trafficking into the United States from Latin America came into the spotlight with Reagan’s War…
American People’s Foreign Policy: USAID’s Role in Apartheid South Africa
In 1986 Congress overrode a presidential veto on major foreign policy. During the 1980s, the American public increasingly resented the…
Negotiating the Helsinki Final Act—Soviet Style
Following Allied victory in World War II, the world plunged headfirst into a bitter rivalry lasting decades between the two…
A “Typical Roberta Cohen Operation”—Establishing USIA Programs in Addis Ababa
Like much of Africa, Ethiopia experienced a watershed moment at the end of World War II, emerging out from under…
Dinner with Imelda: Encounters with the Philippines’ Most Famous Dictatorship
In the wake of the Cold War, dictatorial regimes sprang up throughout the world, capturing international attention with news of…
Ceaușescu and the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: The Early Years of Dealing with a Dictator
The Romanian Führer. The West’s “favorite communist.” Both of these descriptions have been used to describe Nicolae Ceaușescu, the rapacious…
Diplomatic View of Vice President Joe Biden on Kosovo and Israel
When Vice President Biden sat next to then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at a dinner in 2012, Xi asked…