One of the most daunting and stressful tasks a Foreign Service Officer abroad can face is supporting a visit by POTUS,…
A Bum Rap for April Glaspie — Saddam and the Start of the Iraq War
In the summer of 1990, concerns were growing that Saddam Hussein, who was massing troops near the border with Kuwait, was…
Winning the Peace – USAID and the Demobilization of the Nicaraguan Contras
In the 1980s, one of the focal points of U.S. foreign policy was the rise of leftist militants throughout the…
A Peace That Couldn’t Last – Negotiating the Paris Accords on Vietnam
Signed on January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were intended to finally end the Vietnam War, which had cost…
Julia Chang Bloch’s Whole-of-Mission Approach in Nepal
In 1990, Nepal’s centuries-long history of monarchical rule and more recent autocratic substitutes were finally brought to an end in…
I Was So Wrong For So Long: The Art of the Apology
The words “I am sorry” can be difficult to say and sometimes even more painful to accept. Working as representatives…
Georgia and The Rose Revolution
Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in April 1991, and problems and instability arose almost immediately. The first President…
Iran-Contra: Who Knew What When?
In the Iran-Contra Affair, Colonel Oliver North and others within the National Security Council and CIA used back channels and…
The Murder of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Warrior for Peace
The assassination of 73-year old Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin came at the end of a peace rally in Tel…
The 1989 Romanian Revolution and the Fall of Ceausescu
1989 was the year of remarkable popular uprisings throughout the world, most notably Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin…