In 1973, political tensions were high in Chile, with conflict arising between the socialist President Salvador Allende and the more…
Qaddafi – The Man and His Rise to Power
On September 1st, 1969 Muammar Qaddafi along with a group of officers part of the Free Officers Movement staged a…
The Assassination of Ambassador John Gordon Mein, Guatemala, 1968
Eight U.S. Ambassadors have died while on duty, six of whom were killed in armed attacks. The most recent was…
Cain and Abel: Splitting Up North and South Korea
With the end of World War II in August 1945, there was still no consensus on Korea’s fate among Allied…
The Suez Crisis — And A Different Side of Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser was one of the most influential modern-day leaders in the Middle East. As part of the Free…
The 1958 U.S. Marine Invasion of Lebanon – It was no day at the beach
1958 — Lebanon was yet again at the forefront of foreign policy concerns. Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the most…
A Book you can Swear By: Becoming Ambassador in the Most Unusual of Circumstances
Traditionally, U.S. government officials put their hand on the Bible for their swearing-in. In recent years, some have used alternatives,…
Delivering the Mail and Avoiding Martial Law in South Korea, 1987
Chun Doo-hwan, president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988, seized power in 1979 and crushed many democratization movements during…
The Art of Protocol
Understanding the rules of protocol is essential to conducting diplomacy, as any diplomat would attest. Everything from knowing how to…
Sic Semper Tyrannis – The Assassination of El Jefe, May 30, 1961
Rafael Trujillo, El Jefe, ruled the Dominican Republic as dictator from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Trujillo gained prominence…