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 … Continued

A U.S. diplomat with long experience in Soviet affairs takes a look back at two occasions during World War II when the exercise of diplomacy proved all important   “I am glad to see you. I have tried for a … Continued

  American “Diplomacy”: Ambassadors, Senators, and the System   Once upon a time, the United States appointed its chief diplomatic representatives abroad — its ministers in the old days and its ambassadors in the twentieth century — from among its … Continued

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 … Continued

Cold War Diplomatic Negotiations A Personal Recollection by J. Edgar Williams I n early 1953, I finished my year as a Fulbright scholar in New Zealand and headed home. I teamed up with three other Americans who also had been … Continued

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 … Continued