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To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the American Diplomacy Journal, a panel of distinguished former diplomats discussed ways in which diplomacy benefits Americans.   (Top row: Amb Charles Ray, Amb Lino Gutierrez. Amb Piper Campbell.  2nd row: Amb Robert Pearson, Prof Mary Thompson-Jones.)

Celebrating American Diplomacy by Senator Chris Van Hollen

Commentary

Colin Powell’s Legacy by W. Robert Pearson

Transforming Cambodia’s Killing Fields into Farm Fields: American Diplomacy and Combatting Genocide by Kenneth Quinn

American Leadership and a Global Offensive Against COVID by John Blaney and Christopher Datta

Mentoring Partnership Aims to Boost Diversity at State Department by Tom Brannan

 

Eyewitness

William Rockhill, The Man Who Shaped China Policy a Century Ago by Peter Bridges

A Soviet Diplomat’s Memories of Beijing 1973-1975 translated by Simon Schuchat

My British Exequatur, “By Her Majesty’s Command” by Jonathan Rickert

Harnessing Halloween for Diversity in Sweden by Beatrice Camp

 

ADST Moments in Diplomatic History

In 1975, Embassy Saigon staff managed to help thousands of Vietnamese civilians escape, in what was one of the largest evacuations in history.

The Last Days Before the Fall of Saigon: Evacuating Vietnamese Refugees

National Archives

More records of the Department of State have been digitized and are now available online through the National Archives Catalog.

Department of State Records Now Available Online: Despatches from Special Agents, Notes to Foreign Missions, and Notes from Foreign Consuls, 1789-1906

Links

What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction

https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-21-46-LL.pdf

Upgrading U.S. public diplomacy: A new approach for the age of memes and disinformation
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/issue-brief/upgrading-us-public-diplomacy/

U.S.-Iran Relations: 40 Years of Antagonism, Distrust, and Frustration
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/iran/2021-09-20/us-iran-relations-40-years-antagonism-distrust-and-frustration?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=bb17ee0c-9874-4a88-8b39-0f2f527e826f

Engagement Revisited: Progress Made and Lessons Learned from the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue
https://www.ncafp.org/new-report-us-china-strategic-economic-dialogues/

 

In Memoriam

Colin Powell served as Secretary of State 2001-2005; a four-star general, he also held positions as National Security Advisor and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell

George S. Vest helped lay the groundwork for the Helsinki accords with the Soviet Union in the 1970s and later served as Director General of the Foreign Service
https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Vest,%20George%20S%20.toc.pdf

Robert S Service served as Ambassador to Paraguay and as a diplomat in Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexio, Chile, Spain, and Argentina.
https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Service,%20Robert%20E.toc.pdf

Patricia McMahon Hawkins began her career with the U.S. Information Agency, later serving as ambassador to Togo after assignments in France, Zaire, Burkina Faso, Columbia, the Ivory Coast, and the Dominican Republic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_McMahon_Hawkins