U.S. Foreign Service Officer John Dinger arrived in South Africa to serve as a regional trade officer at the time…
In the Heat of the Cold War: Diplomats in a Divided Germany
Ever since the Foreign Service’s infancy, Foreign Service spouses have traveled with their partners to all corners of the world,…
Diplomatic View of Vice President Joe Biden on Kosovo and Israel
When Vice President Biden sat next to then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at a dinner in 2012, Xi asked…
Nettling the New Guard—PNGed out of Singapore
Singapore’s story of economic success under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew has catapulted the nation to the status of…
The Road to Reunification: Remembering the Reintegration of East and West Germany
The road to German reunification was long, turbulent, and beset with political obstacles. Despite the challenges, German reunification represents a…
Only the Good Die Young—Attending Bobby Kennedy’s Funeral
Nineteen sixty-eight was one of the most chaotic years in American history. As the unpopular Vietnam War raged on, protests…
Keeping the Skies Open: Defending the Open Skies Treaty
The checkered history between Russia and the United States was arguably the most transformational relationship for world events in the…
The Felix Bloch Affair: An Unsolved Case of Cold War Espionage
In 1989, French counterintelligence agents watched Felix Bloch as he dined in Paris with known Soviet spy “Pierre Bart.” Bloch…
“She’s Not a Woman, She’s a Diplomat”—Navigating Saudi Arabia in the 1980s
A car full of armed guards trailed after Janice Bay as she defiantly walked down the gate-lined road away from…
Diamonds, Coal, and the Dutch Queen—NBC’s First Female Broadcaster Escapes The Netherlands in 1940
Reporting live from a shortwave radio station near the German border at the beginning of World War II, NBC’s first…