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The Struggle for the United Nations

April 1998

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE UNITED NATIONS by William N. Dale President Wilson traveled the country in the fall to raise support for the Treaty, but isolationist opponents and political foes dogged his steps arguing against his message. The President refused … Read more

Safirka: Envoy to Somalia

April 1998

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 … Read more

My Time Isn’t Always Your Time

April 1997

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

Cold War Diplomatic Negotiations

March 1997

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 … Read more

Advice to a Fledgling Diplomat

March 1997

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