Diplomacy in Crisis
The Cost to America and the World
Statement by the Board of American Diplomacy
In the span of a few weeks, the United States has experienced unprecedented shifts in its foreign policy on topics long considered broadly bipartisan and uncontentious. The United States has broken with its European allies over support for Ukraine, a democratic country invaded by Russia. Free trade with neighboring Canada and Mexico, our two top trading partners, is gone. The U.S. Agency for International Development — set up over 60 years ago to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance and help people recover from humanitarian crises — is also gone, with lethal consequences. Public service, long saluted, is denigrated, and the U.S. Department of State is preparing for dramatic staffing cuts. READ MORE
The American Diplomacy journal has focused its mission on presenting the voices of practitioners: commentaries and stories from people who “have been there.” With this section of the journal, we aim to do the same. What is at stake in the current diplomacy crisis can best be explained by those same voices, which we proudly share here with our readers.
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November 2025
Commentary
History Matters by Robert E. Hunter
Iran: A Report on the DACOR Bacon House Foundation’s 2025 Annual Conference by Keith McCormick
What You Can Learn Standing on a Street Corner by Raymond F. Smith
Eyewitness
Not Your Average Visitor: Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy in London and Bucharest by Jonathan Rickert
The Student Corner
Vietnam’s Foreign Service Legacy: Shaping Trump’s 2025 Diplomacy by Jackson Simmons-Furlati
Moments in Diplomacy
(Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training)
In this link to his oral history, Kempton Jenkins recounts Embassy Moscow’s involvement in the 1961 Berlin crisis, in particular Ambassador Thompson’s firm rebuff of threats from Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko.
https://adst.org/2015/06/the-berlin-crisis-of-1961/
Links
A recent article in the Foreign Service Journal describes the legislation that established the Foreign Service in its current form and the challenges it faces from actions of the Trump administration.
https://afsa.org/foreign-service-act-1980-pivotal-moment
From Our Archives
As we look ahead to the 250 anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year, we offer some articles from our archives that explore our foreign affairs history, starting with the turn of this century.
America and the World at the Dawn of a New Century February 2000
On American Diplomacy and the Disorderly Oscillation of World Orders August 2008
An American Empire: An essay on the United States as a Global Power June 2004
The Conduct of American Diplomacy April 2000
While America Sleeps March 2001