On May 1, 1960, an America U-2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, causing great embarrassment to the…
The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 14-28, 1962
The early years of the Kennedy Administration proved to be a tense time in relations with the Soviet Union. Kennedy…
French Colony to Sovereign State: Moroccan Independence
Moroccans celebrate November 18 as Independence Day in commemoration of their Sultan’s return from exile in 1955 and Morocco’s transition from…
A Battle of Wills in Berlin, 1959
Throughout the Cold War, Berlin was one of the main battlegrounds for the psychological warfare between the United States and the…
Negotiating the End of the Yom Kippur War
Israel’s resounding victory in the Six-Day War of 1967 left the Arab states humiliated and looking to regain the swathes…
Frenemies: Warm Encounters with Cold War Soviets
Just because the war between the two superpowers was cold didn’t mean that relations between U.S. and Soviet diplomats had…
Turning Out the Lights at U.S. Embassy Havana, 1961
The United States and Cuba officially severed diplomatic relations on January 3, 1961, the culmination of months of increasingly hostile bilateral…
The Resignation of Richard M. Nixon
Richard M. Nixon’s presidency was a tempestuous mix of stunning foreign policy achievements (his trip to China) and shameful lapses…
The Death of Ambassador Arnold Raphel
U.S. relations with Pakistan have often had a disproportionate importance. In the 1980’s, they were again front and center in…
Nixon vs. Khrushchev — The 1959 Kitchen Debate
It was undoubtedly one of the most unorthodox – and therefore memorable – settings for a major political debate. On…