Showing 1–10 of 51 results
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This artwork was given to Bruce Laingen, one of the 52 American hostages held in Iran for 444 days from 1979-1981. It depicts President Jimmy Carter and the iconic symbol of the hope for the hostages’ safe release – a yellow ribbon – tied around a tree. One of a series of…
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"State Department Murders" novel by Edward Ronns, published in 1950. The story features fictional State Department officers and draws heavily on the environment of security fears and paranoia at the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s. During this time period, the “Lavender Scare” and McCarthyism resulted in the persecution…
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This booklet was a resource utilized by staff of the interagency committee called the Active Measures Working Group, which began work at the Department of State in the early 1980s. The Working Group was devoted to analyses of and responses to Soviet disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting or weakening the United States…
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Adolph “Spike” Dubs was a career Foreign Service Officer. In 1973-74 he served as charge d’affaires at Embassy Moscow, and in 1978 he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. On February 14, 1979, Ambassador Dubs and his driver were abducted by armed militants posing as police. Afghan and accompanying Soviet officials hastily…
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During the height of the Cold War, the State Department used music to bridge gaps and ease tensions. American Jazz Ambassadors, including Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Billie Holiday, traveled the world representing the United States. Voice of America radio also brought their music to millions…
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On April 30, 1980 – the eve of May Day – two protestors with Communist sympathies burst into U.N. Security Council chamber and splashed William vanden Heuvel, deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and Soviet Ambassador Oleg Troyanovsky with bucketfuls of red paint. The protestors’ aim was to accuse the U.S. and…
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In the mid-1940s, an American named J. Robert Fluker was living in Afghanistan and teaching at Habibia College in Kabul. Fluker, whose teaching position was funded by the U.S. Department of State, decided to introduce the game of baseball to his students. In 1946, during the opening game, the Prime Minister of…
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In April 1971, nine players from the U.S. Table Tennis team took a historic trip to China. Their trip was the start of what became known as “ping pong diplomacy” and helped lay the groundwork for establishing official diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Connie Sweeris,…
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Throughout the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in espionage against one another in the hope of gathering information that could give them some sort of advantage in the relationship, or if a direct military confrontation ever occurred. Efforts to eavesdrop inside secure embassies, or on diplomatic personnel…
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Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty was the highest Catholic official in Hungary mid-20th century during the Soviet takeover of Hungary. He was opposed to communism and sentenced with treason. His life was in danger, and he sought and received asylum at the U.S. Embassy, Budapest on November 4, 1956. He ended up staying at…
