Young political officer William Newlin arrived in Guatemala in early 1966 amidst worsening political and social chaos. As the civil…
Building a USAID Program in a Country With No Roads: The Case of South Sudan
USAID Mission Director William Hammink’s troubles began shortly before his 2009 arrival in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital; President Omar al-Bashir…
Witness to the Arab Spring in Tunisia
In December 2010, Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi proved that it can take just a single moment to spark a…
Duty and Danger: A Diplomatic Spouse Targeted for Assassination in Algeria
When they learned they were marked for assassination, Parvaneh Limbert and her husband John — the political section chief at…
Preventing and Controlling Floods in Bangladesh: Tackling an Age-Old Problem
A terrible flood struck Bangladesh in 1988, killing over 6,000 people, destroying millions of tons of crops and causing millions…
Helping Reunite Germany with Tennis
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in a fraught time in the lives of East and West…
Spain’s New King and the Politics of a Fourth of July Party
Francisco Franco’s death in 1975 opened the path for newly-throned King Juan Carlos to become Spain’s head of state. His…
Helping Rebuild Rwanda After the 1994 Genocide
Rebuilding Rwanda after the genocide was no easy task. USAID tasked George Lewis to head up that agency’s efforts to…
James Baldwin: The Expatriate Who Fought for His Country
James Baldwin is counted among the greatest and most influential of American authors. He died in 1987 at the age…
General’s Coup Attempt Prompts Evacuation from Guinea-Bissau
At the crack of dawn on June 7, 1998, Ambassador Peggy Blackford woke to sounds of gunfire outside and someone…