Category: Foreign Service Stories

by Robert Baker

by Paul Levine

by Andrew A. Clark

The following story is about celebration of political independence. In Tanzania, the holiday called Saba-Saba (seven-seven in Swahili, meaning in this case the seventh of July 1954) celebrates the founding of the Tanganyika African National Union – TANU – which eventually was instrumental in gaining political independence. At the time of this event Saba-Saba was the primary political holiday in Tanzania, eclipsing even the day of actual independence. It was a day of serious political celebration.

So here’s the story…

A Diplomat’s Perspective by Louis V. Riggio   Prelude Having passed the Foreign Service Written Examination in December 1961 and the Oral, in June 1962, shortly after the latter I found myself at Parris Island for Marine Corps Recruit Training; … Read more

by Bob Baker

Memorials to Norway’s Holocaust Victims
by Nina Brambani Smith

Firsthand Observations on Countering Insurgencies: Lessons for Today?
by Dick Virden

by Yale Richmond

A Case Study of Cultural Diplomacy During the Cultural Revolution
by Francis B. Tenny

by Yale Richmond

One Indelible Memory of Syria by Patricia Ann Liske We were returning to our post at Embassy Amman from a weekend excursion to Damascus in June, 1995, and I was riding in the middle car of our three-car caravan. My … Read more

by Bob Baker

by Yale RIchmond

by Robert Baker

by Walter R. Roberts

by Yale Richmond

by Florence Jue Cambodia (1957-59) In the early years of the Foreign Service, the spouse of a diplomat was prohibited from earning a paycheck overseas, but could only volunteer for local charitable activities, to teach, and to assist with embassy’s … Read more

A personal account, part three
by Gregory Wentling

The King’s Speech, the film about King George VI, reminds me about the late Queen Mother — his wife and mother of the current Queen Elizabeth — and President Truman. President Nixon in 1972 gave Queen Elizabeth as a state … Read more

by Yale Richmond