Resilience and Resolve

These items in NMAD's collection demonstrate the resilience and resolve required of diplomats on a daily basis.

Showing 31–40 of 48 results

  • Item

    “Hostage Cross” Necklace

    Kathryn Koob was a Foreign Service Officer who was serving in Tehran when the American embassy was seized by Iranian militants on Nov. 4, 1979. She became one of two women who were held hostage during the entire ordeal. Koob is a person of deep faith, which sustained her while held captive.…

  • Item

    Kathryn Koob's Knit Hat

    Kathryn Koob was a Foreign Service Officer who was serving in Tehran when the American embassy was seized by Iranian militants on Nov. 4, 1979. She became one of two women who were held hostage during the entire ordeal. After their release on January 20, 1981, following 444 days held as hostages,…

  • Item

    Iran Hostage Blindfold

    This piece of cloth was fashioned into a blindfold and used on U.S. diplomat Robert Blucker, who was serving at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 as an Economic Officer. Blucker was one of 52 who were ultimately held hostage for 444 days, in what became known as the Iran Hostage…

  • Item

    Ambassador Dubs' Letter to his Daughter

    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…

  • Item

    Day Planner from Bombed Embassy

    This day planner belonged to Foreign Service Officer Ellen Richard, one of the survivors of the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. Richard lost her eyesight due to injuries from the bombing, and her personal story of courage and resilience—like that of so many others—is inspiring. Her day planner…

  • Item

    Flag flown at U.S. Embassy Nairobi

    This flag graced the office of Colonel Ron Roughead, Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Kenya, at U.S. Embassy Nairobi. On August 7, 1998, in coordinated attacks by al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. Embassies Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were devastated by car bombs. After the attack, the Embassy Nairobi Marine…

  • Item

    Isuzu Trooper Grille

    On August 7, 1998, Al-Qaeda terrorists set off coordinated deadly car bombs outside U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya, and U.S. Embassy Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The death and destruction at both sites was extreme. In Nairobi, U.S. Ambassador Prudence Bushnell suffered injuries as she was meeting with officials in a neighboring building that was damaged…

  • Item

    Ambassador Bushnell's Suit

    This suit is stained with Ambassador Prudence Bushnell’s blood from the injuries she sustained during the August 7, 1998, attack on U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya. That morning, the U.S. embassies in both Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were attacked in coordinated truck bombings. Suicide bombers parked trucks loaded with explosives outside…

  • Item

    Bomb-damaged Briefcase

    Foreign Service Officer Richard A. Johnson was posted to U.S. Embassy Kuwait when the embassy suffered a major attack on December 12, 1983. A truck laden with explosives crashed through the embassy compound gates and detonated near the administrative building. Six people were killed and over 80 were injured. It was part…

  • Item

    Declarations of Algiers Pen

    On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants forcefully took over the U.S. Embassy Tehran and ultimately held over 50 Americans hostage for 444 days. Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran for the release of the hostages were brokered through the Foreign Ministry of Algeria. The Declarations of Algiers was a set of agreements…