“There was real jubilation in the streets the first few weeks. It’s still known as the Revolution of the Carnations,…
The Iran-Contra Scandal
One of the biggest foreign policy scandals of the last half-century was the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan Administration,…
Get Your Cameras Ready: Celebrities in the Embassies
While the work at embassies can often put Foreign Service officers in harm’s way, on occasion they have the chance…
The Nazi Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
Axis military efforts in the Balkans, compared with the rest of Europe, had not gone well. Italy had invaded Greece…
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Founding Father
Lee Kuan Yew, who died in March 2015, is known for being the longest serving prime minster in the world…
The Northern Ireland Conflict — Peace by Piece
“The Troubles” between Northern Ireland and Ireland date back to 1167 when England first laid roots in Ireland, but in…
Books, Defectors, and Song — The Cuban Missile Crisis, as Seen from Moscow
The Soviet Union, in Churchill’s famous words, was a “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”; as such it made…
Jordan, 1970 – An Attack on the Embassy and a Dispute with the King
Jordan is one of the United States’ staunchest allies in the Middle East and has been one of the few…
Brazil’s Long Detour on the Road to Democracy
Brazil’s path to democracy was far from perfect and often tortuous. In 1961, a “possibly half insane” Janio Quadros was…
Lincoln Gordon
Back to Diplomats and Diplomacy Lincoln Gordon: Architect of Cold War Foreign Policy ––University Press of Kentucky, 2015 After World…