Spotlight on Diplomacy
Commemorating 100 Years of Our Foreign Service: The 1924 Rogers Act
This Spotlight celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the 1924 Rogers Act, which created the modern-day merit-based U.S. Foreign Service.
"Big Stick" Era Diplomacy (1898-1919)
Showing 1–10 of 12 results
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Video
Diplomacy Classroom: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy
Human rights has not always been a foreign policy priority. However, over the past 100 years, human rights have become a growing part of foreign…
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Item
"Civil Code" Book from Italy
The oldest gift to a Secretary of State in the museum’s collection is this copy of Codice Civile del Regno D’Italia or, translated into English, Civil Code of the Kingdom of Italy. It was printed in 1901 by Fratella Bocca Editori, an Italian publishing house. The pocket-sized publication has a short handwritten…
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Collection Highlights
Preserving our Oldest Gift to a Secretary of State
Preserving our collection is one of NMAD’s top priorities. Recently, NMAD restored the oldest diplomatic gift we have: a book given to Secretary of State John Hay in 1901.
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Story of Diplomacy
The Declaration Heard ‘Round the World
The 1776 Declaration of Independence is one of the most universally well-known historical documents. American diplomats continue to promote the democratic values enshrined in its…
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Item
Japanese Coronation Postcards
George W. Guthrie served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan (1913-1917). As ambassador, he kept the U.S-Japan bilateral relationship on an even keel as war spread into Asia and the Pacific in 1914 and as President Woodrow Wilson attempted to maintain neutrality. Guthrie and his wife Florence successfully managed this complex relationship, gaining…
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Item
Consular Officer Class Photo
Taken on the steps of what is now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., this photo shows newly minted officers who would go on to staff U.S. consulates, providing services to American citizens overseas. The descendants of one of these officers, Marion Letcher (back row, second from left), donated this…
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Item
Meyer Franklin Kline's Passport
Meyer Franklin Kline, who went by Franklin, dreamed of traveling the world from a young age. At age 18, he traveled from California to Paris to visit the 1900 World’s Fair. Beginning around 1913, Franklin spent over twenty years traveling the world while working for the Osaka Mercantile Steamship Company Ltd. in…
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Simulation
Spanish American Conflict of 1898: Treaties and Self-Determination
The United States sent the USS Maine battleship to Havana Harbor to protect its citizens and interests in the Spanish-Cuban conflict. On the night of February 15, 1898, an explosion rocked the ship which eventually sank, killing 266 sailors.
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Item
Sheldon Whitehouse's 1914 Diplomatic Passport
Sheldon Whitehouse, a career Foreign Service Officer, used this Special Passport to travel to his post at the U.S. Legation for Greece and Montenegro. It was issued on June 30, 1914, just as war was about to break out in Europe. Whitehouse used this passport from 1914 to 1918. It is stamped…
