On March 16, 1968, in what was one of the most shocking incidents of the Vietnam War and in the…
Poland’s Path to NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created by ten European countries, the U.S. and Canada in 1949 in the aftermath of…
John S. Service – The Man Who “Lost China,” Part I
During the 1950’s hundreds of government employees, entertainers, educators, and union activists were accused of being communists by Senator Joseph…
Dealing with the MacArthurs and their Notorious Pet Cat
This is a story about a demanding ambassador’s wife, who was “an ogre and an alcoholic,” a demanding ambassador, and…
Reviving the Foreign Service, Part II
This article first appeared in the May 2013 edition of the Foreign Service Journal. In it, Susan R. Johnson, the…
“The First Terrorist Attack in the U.S.” – The Letelier-Moffitt Assassinations
After Augusto Pinochet led a coup d’état in Chile on September 11, 1973, taking power from the democratically elected President…
The Ever-changing Nature of the American Foreign Service
The Foreign Service has undergone major reforms and tinkering over the past century, so much so that people often joked…
The Final Days of Paraguaya’s Alfredo Stroessner
On February 3rd, 1989 tanks rolled into Paraguay’s capital Asuncion, led by General Andres Rodriguez. Briefly bullets and bombs rattled…
Ariel Sharon Launches an Attack — Against the U.S. Ambassador
Ariel Sharon, who died January 2014 after eight years in a coma, was not known for his calm and easygoing…
“Our government has evidenced moral bankruptcy”: The Blood Telegram and the 1971 Bengali Genocide
Pakistan after independence was a strange creation: the capital, Islamabad, and most of the power were located in the west…