A fixture of U.S. foreign relations in the Twentieth Century has been the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain. Certainly since World War II, and perhaps even earlier, the diplomatic, cultural, economic, military, and intelligence cooperation and relationship between the two countries were unparalleled in modern history. Whether that remains true today … Continue reading Special Relationship? Probably Not in 1932
An earlier post discussed the Department of State reaction to the publication of The Invisible Government by David Wise and Thomas Ross. That book was one of the first “exposés” of Central Intelligence Agency activities. As the 60s wore on, critical books appeared in ever greater numbers, some penned by former CIA officers. One of … Continue reading The Department of State Reacts to Public Revelations of Intelligence Activities, 1969
Robert C. Toth during the "William Reilly at the LA Times Roundtable" discussion on C-SPAN, Oct 17, 1989 Noted journalist Robert C. Toth died on December 12, 2022. He was 93 years old. Toth was a reporter and foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. He covered many important stories and won many awards for … Continue reading Interrogated! Robert Toth in Moscow, June 1977
In today’s world, a President of the United States travelling anywhere in the World is constantly in touch with the White House and government agencies through sophisticated and secure means of communications. The President is literally never out of touch. This has not always been true. While Presidents have always left Washington, DC, to travel … Continue reading Keeping in Touch with a Traveling President, 1940
To many, Mikhail Gorbachev seemed to come out of nowhere in 1985 to become the leader of the USSR. In some ways, his example supports the “great person” view of history, which is deeply ironic since he came out of the Marxist-Leninist milieu with its emphasis on the impersonal forces of history. Mikhail Gorbachev, 1987 … Continue reading Mikhail Gorbachev, 1931-2022
From October 19-22, 2022, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) held its 50th anniversary fall conference in College Park, Maryland (just a stone's throw from the National Archives at College Park). This afforded the opportunity for many colleagues local to the area to attend the conference, hear what's currently happening throughout the field, network, and … Continue reading Research Services at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference
Situated as it is in the mid-Atlantic region, the weather in Washington, DC is extremely variable. The region experiences four distinct seasons a year, but within each season there can be wild swings in the weather. This is particularly true in winter and summer. During the winter, the city can experience days or weeks that … Continue reading Washington DC Weather and Diplomatic Protocol, 1959
Until 1980, the failure by Congress to enact funding legislation for U.S. government agencies did not lead to a shutdown. In that year, however, an interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act by Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti determined that the lack of a funding legislation requires that U.S. government agencies curtail their activities and services, cease … Continue reading Do We Have a Budget?
An earlier post discussed a late 1949/early 1950 exchange of correspondence between the Department of Defense and the Department of State about potential international implications of the integration of the U.S. armed forces in the late 1940s. Defense officials wanted to know if there were “political objections to the stationing of individual Negroes or non-segregated … Continue reading The Question of Integrating U.S. Forces in Greenland, 1948
According to the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1963, finding states are obligated to return space objects landing on their territory to the launching country. In other words, pieces of American rockets and satellites … Continue reading Give Us Back Our Junk: Space Debris, 1968
