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President’s Note

December 2017

  Diplomacy has been under heavy fire this year. The U.S. president’s policies, appealing to a strongly conservative and nationalist base, have unsettled allies and confused (and perhaps encouraged) adverseries. Our own magazine began its third decade this year facing … Read more

Angola – an ambassador’s daily diary

October 2017

Angola – O dia-a-dia de um embaixador Angola – an ambassador’s daily diary by Ambassador Antonio Pinto da France Edicao de Livros e Revistas, Lisbon 2004 Translation by Ed Marks Selections From the preface I was the third Portuguese ambassador … Read more

Nuggets of Wisdom

October 2017

Review by Brenda Brown Schoonover A Review of Saved for a Purpose: A Journey from Private Virtues to Public Values, By  James A. Joseph. (Duke University Press, 235 pages ) The author, James A. Joseph defines his book,Saved for a Purpose: A Journey from Private Virtues … Read more

John Lothrop Motley: The Witty US Minister to Vienna

September 2017

John Lothrop Motley The Witty US Minister to Vienna Chapter 1 of Foreign Vistas: Stories from a Life in the Foreign Service by William Sommers If success in the diplomat’s trade were based solely on education, language facility, mastery of … Read more

Tom Countryman’s Farewell

September 2017

Tom Countryman’s Farewell, Department of State, January 31, 2017 Thank You! When I entered the State Department, I never intended to rise high enough to merit a retirement ceremony. And when it occurred to me that I had, I pictured … Read more