The author, who had a distinguished thirty-five-year career in the Foreign Service, is a member of the board of directors of this journal’s parent organization, American Diplomacy Publishers. This article appeared on Christmas Day 1994 in the Hendersonville (N.C.) … Read more

  (. . . long years ago) by Carl R. Fritz VENTS LAST YEAR IN Afghanistan, particularly the dropping of U.S. bombs on suspected terrorist camps, have moved me to recall a visit I made to that country back in … Read more

Excitement Around Here Last Week!Continuing a series that we at American Diplomacy hope will attract more contributors from the ranks of our readers, the editor shares a letter he sent to several of his family members from one of his … Read more

  by James L. Huskey “I counted and identified bodies in a strange déjà vu of the Tiananmen body count. It was surrealistic as colleagues came running to tell me this colleague was alive . . . or that colleague was dead. . . . “We … Read more

by Gene Schmiel DID YOU EVER WONDER WHY Reader’s Digest has a section every month entitled “Humor in Uniform” about the military but not one entitled “Humor in Striped Pants and Morning Coat” about the Foreign Service? The easy answer … Read more

The author, who retired from the US Foreign Service after twenty-seven years, is on the journal’s Editorial Review Board. He has published a number of commentaries and essays in the pages of American Diplomacy, including most recently a personal vignette … Read more

As evidence that U.S. Foreign Service folk do not always dine formally in stuffy diplomatic settings, American Diplomacy offers up the following recipe submitted by retired Foreign Service employee Judy Chidester. Let us know what you think after trying the … Read more

A PERSONAL MEMOIR – A Fulbright Interlude in Nigeria by Henry E. Mattox    Nigeria Today a context-setting introduction supplied by former west african affairs director roy melbourne:* A generation of thirty years has passed since Dr. Mattox’s Fulbright sojourn, completely … Read more

WITNESS TO HISTORY The following account of the author’s adventures during the harrowing days of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968 could as well be placed under a heading of “Remembering Vietnam” or “Life in the Foreign Service.” But … Read more

I may be the only living person who actually told Christopher Columbus to go discover America. When I make that assertion, I usually get some funny looks; but it’s true. Here’s how it happened. I was stationed at the Embassy … Read more

In this brief segment, former Foreign Service spouse Kathryn Schmiel illustrates in her understated but descriptive prose style how American personnel stationed abroad in remote parts of the world — especially the children — often find their diversions in unusual … Read more

U.S. envoy Peter Bridges affords us here an unusual personal look into the experience of a professional diplomat taking up the post, for the first time, of the American ambassador. He went to a nation, in this instance, noted for … Read more

assigned to establish the Point IV Technical Cooperation Mission. The problems surrounding the events of independence and the trauma of Partition were still very much in evidence in the capital city of New Delhi and the surrounding area. We were … Read more

by Gene Schmiel The call from the police station was a welcome diversion for this newly-minted vice consul from the dreary boredom of visa stamping at the American Embassy. An American woman, about twenty-five years old, named “Amelia Barnes” (not … Read more

Cultural Characteristics and Foreign Affairs Personal Musings by Roy M. Melbourne I have been struck repeatedly over the years how cultural idiocyncracies can affect foreign relations in significant ways. The reflections below represent an effort to explore how some of … Read more

  Jack Nixon’s long career as a USAID officer included several years in Haiti during the 1970’s. Retired, he now lives in France with his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and several pets. His most recent previous article, a tongue–in–cheek piece entitled … Read more

   “Witness to History”    PRESENT AT THE FOOTNOTE The very nature of their calling — long stretches of service abroad — makes it likely that members of the U.S. Foreign Service sooner or later witness history being made, and over … Read more

Theory on usefulness of war gets shot down Brassed Off by Francis T. Underhill  On the day I was sworn in as ambassador to Malaysia, I also signed a letter that read: “Dear Mr. President, I hereby submit my resignation … Read more

Retired Foreign Service officer Ed Williams, a member of this journal’s Editorial Advisory Board, resides between escort interpreting trips at Fearrington Village, NC. Depends on How You Interpret It By J. Edgar Williams For the past several years, since I … Read more

The Purple Captain’s Final Voyage by Gene Schmiel Harbor at Mombasa, Kenya Dealing with deceased Americans overseas was the one part of consular work which I, always more comfortable writing political analyses or trying to obtain information from a source … Read more