When the First Lady of the United States comes to town, it requires almost as much planning and fanfare as…
The Immigration Game — Visas and the Mexican Border
Illegal immigration remains a hotly contested issue within the United States, as evidenced by the subject’s repeated appearance in American…
Pain at the Pumps: The 1973 Oil Embargo and Its Effect on U.S. Foreign Policy
It may be a challenge for those who did not experience it to imagine a time when the supply of gas…
Negotiating the UNFCCC – “The Whole World Was Against Us”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a landmark international climate treaty which entered into force in March…
Mari-Luci Jaramillo: Shoemaker’s Daughter to Madame Ambassador
Mari-Luci Jaramillo, U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1977-1980, rose from poverty in New Mexico to a life of diplomacy and…
Monkey Business
Embassies around the world focus on some very important issues – bilateral trade negotiations, helping American citizens abroad, reporting on…
Haiti, The Bearer of Scars
Haiti is a land of great beauty and of great suffering. The Haitian proverb, bay kou bliye, pote mak sonje…
A Personnel Tragedy
Charles William Thomas was a bright mid-career Foreign Service officer who was selected out because his efficiency report was mixed…
Sound and the Fury — The 1954 Geneva Conference on Vietnam and Korea
In April 1954, amidst growing tensions regarding the situation in the Korean Peninsula and Indochina, the international community convened a…
The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project is one of the largest scientific research programs the United States has ever seen — and certainly…