Category: Eyewitness

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

By Charles S. Gordon During my early USAID assignments in Asia and Africa, I was frequently exposed to European diplomatic colleagues, who, it struck me, spent an unseemly amount of time thinking about, discussing, and planning for their future retirement. … Read more

Dr. McIntyre, retired from the Foreign Service after more than twenty-three years abroad, lives with his wife Jessie in Chapel Hill, NC. During the Second World War, he was awarded a Bronze Star for his service as an infantry battalion … Read more

By Francis Underhill “Indonesians live in ‘rubber time.’“ I first became aware that time has a cultural dimension when I was assigned to our consulate in the city of Medan on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, my first non-European post … Read more

At long last, American Diplomacy finds itself in the happy position of being able to announce the following 1972 DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS for personnel of the American Embassy, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. as screened, judged, and selected by Jack L. Nixon This … Read more

by Shelley Mattox MARK TWAIN once complained that the “idiot Parisians” failed to understand their own language when he spoke to them in French. Everyone who has been abroad knows the challenge of coping with languages not his own, and … Read more

I was the only third secretary, the diplomatic equivalent of a second lieutenant, when I arrived at our embassy in Lisbon in January of 1948 on my first Foreign Service assignment. As part of my indoctrination, the ambassador decided that … Read more

by Francis Underhill