American Ambassadors in a Troubled World: Interviews with Senior Diplomats

Following a brief historical introduction, 74 senior US diplomats provide personal accounts of ambassadorial life. They describe their reasons for becoming ambassadors, the appointment process, their training, the management of an embassy, problems in dealing with heads of state and officials at home. They discuss troubles in Korea and Laos, the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jonestown affair, hostilities in Cyprus, the fall of Saigon, civil strife in Nicaragua, along with terrorism, coups and other demonstrations of violence in the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, they point to the future role of ambassadors.