A BRAZILIAN DIPLOMAT in Lisbon first mentioned Tróia to my husband and me soon after our arrival in the late 1960s. His enthusiastic description of the place sent us there on the next springlike Sunday. My husband, Alf, had been … Read more

Lauren Wilcox, a Brown University graduate, now studies creative writing in a Masters program at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In June 2000, she made her second visit to Cuba with a group sponsored by the Church of Reconciliation … Read more

When Jim Bullington, a former U.S. ambassador and regular contributor to these pages, decided he’d had enough of retirement, he applied for a Peace Corps position and soon found himself in West Africa. He promised to keep our readers posted … Read more

ENTERED ON ACTIVE DUTY with the Foreign Service in September 1968. Like most first-tour, single officers of that era, my initial assignment was in Vietnam with the joint civilian-military operation CORDS. After a year I was transferred to the embassy … Read more

As the author, a retired U. S. Foreign Service officer, observes, “For most of us, making history is not in the cards. But,for any of us a close brush with history can happen any time — perhaps without our knowing!” … Read more

The author lived in Havana as a Foreign Service spouse in the 1990s. Here she presents — in fictional form — an impression of Cuban life at that time. ~ Ed.   THE SEA STRETCHES OUT, LUMINOUS AND BLUE, to … Read more

The author served in the American embassy in Ottawa and as Canadian desk officer in the Department of State, 1947-1951. Ambassador Dale retired after thirty years in the Foreign Service in 1975.– Ed.   AT AN INFORMAL RECEPTION given by … Read more

  We agreed to finish out our tour in Ankara, Turkey, by filling an unexpected staffing gap at the Consulate in Istanbul. In exchange for camping out for five months with only 400 lbs of air freight trucked to us … Read more

by Edward L. Peck   Ambassador Peck, a thirty-two-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, now retired in the Washington, DC, area, recounts one of his less run-of-the-mill experiences as the principal officer of a small U.S. consulate.      ~ Ed. , … Read more

by Carl Fritz Our vision of China today is that of an emerging gigantic economic and military power, one with a huge trade surplus with the United States and a reputation sullied by violations of human rights, spying to obtain … Read more

Port-au-Prince (Haiti) – le vendredi 14 avril 1972 Une Visite au Foyer “Alice Garoute” à Cazeau By Jack L Nixon He also serves who only stands and waits, or who only visits USAID-supported rural schools and waits. The author made … Read more

Medical Encounters in Cuba, Late 1990’s Doctors for Dollars By Patricia Linderman The author, a U.S. Foreign Service spouse since 1990, describes diplomatic life in Castro’s Cuba during recent years. Mrs. Linderman is now serving with her husband at a … Read more

The author discusses the uncommon instance of a private banker conducting official bilateral talks potentially of considerable national and international importance. Dr. Kilgroe, who teaches U.S. History at North Carolina State University, earned a Ph.D. at the University of North … Read more

Beginning a Diplomatic Career: Embassy Panama, 1959-1961
by Peter Bridges

by Kelly Midura   The author, a U.S. Foreign Service spouse, has been posted abroad with her husband in Latin America and Africa. Their forthcoming assignment is to the Czech Republic. ~ Ed.   “Wrapped up against the chilly wind … Read more

  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