Search

John Quincy Adams was, among other things, a scholar, poet, and even scientist. He was unusually devoted to the Greek and Latin classics. This article establishes, through his detailed diaries, the agenda of his classical studies from 1794 to 1817, a period during which, with the exception of eight years back in the United States, he served as an ambassador in Europe. His nonclassical intellectual interests during this whole period are included in the story, for Adams's classical interests were only part--albeit an important part--of his encyclopedic openness to the whole of learning, which was not untypical of his age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the experience of Pierre David, Napoleonic consul in Bosnia from 1807 to 1814, under Hüsrev Mehemed Pasha's tenure as governor of the province (1806-8). It relies on the diplomatic correspondence between David and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goal is to highlight the French interests in the area and their modification after the Treaty of Tilsit; the figure of Hüsrev Mehemed Pasha; the relationship of the locals with the Ottoman authority and the Consul; and the local effects of the revolution that overthrew the reformer sultan Selim III. The article reveals the ineffectiveness of communication from the highest to the lowest levels of French diplomacy in the Levant. It also demonstrates the complex Ottoman center-periphery dynamics during one of the empire's most critical moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris sojourn of the author of A Diary of the French Revolution is possibly the most fascinating period of his eventful life. As George Washington's informant and emissary (official and unofficial) in both Paris and London, Gouverneur Morris discreetly contributed to the United States' policy toward France and England. Upon his arrival in Paris in February 1789, Morris became the privileged witness of the outbreak of the French Revolution, of which he would become an invaluable chronicler and a discreet actor for five years. A self-appointed advisor on revolutionary matters, he would interfere in French politics as a republican royalist of sorts and become the darling of the constitutional noblesse and the Jacobins' bête noire. From 1792 to 1794, he served as minister plenipotentiary of the United States. As the only foreign diplomat to remain in Paris during the Reign of Terror, Morris judiciously used his astonishing network of personal relationships with the various factions to defend American interests and to help his compatriots involuntarily caught in the maelstrom of sanguinary ideological excesses. This article re-examines Gouverneur Morris's participation in the second earth-shaking upheaval of the late eighteenth century and ponders the New York revolutionist's reasons for involvement, as well as the nature and significance of that engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biography is presented of the Christian missionary, American diplomat and professor at Urumia college of Urumia City, Iran William Ambrose Shedd. He was born in the second half of the 19th century in a remote part of Persia and graduated from Marietta College, in Marietta, Ohio in 1887. During World War I, as the acting American consul, he led efforts to prevent violence between Christians and Muslims in Urumia.

This article explores some revealing excerpts from the memoirs of Charles J. Vopicka (1857 1935), Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria during Woodrow's Wilson administration. Despite his relatively short diplomatic career, Charles J. Vopicka witnessed one of the defining moments of the 20th century, namely the First World War. His recollections on the bombardment and the subsequent occupation of Bucharest by the German Army -- through the eyes of an American diplomat -- prove to be a fascinating reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Henry Kissinger was the single most controversial diplomat of the 20th century. This article explores Kissinger's approach to the philosophy of realism in international affairs, his role in Vietnam policy making, and his most recent engagement in the debate over the Iraq War. It argues that Kissinger's realism, although philosophically consistent and having roots within his own life's experience, was always tempered by his desire to exercise influence within the American political system. Once in office under Richard Nixon and then Gerald Ford, Kissinger came to recognise how significantly domestic politics shaped American foreign policy. His involvement in the Vietnam War demonstrates this, and one lesson he took from that conflict was the hope that Americans could be persuaded to move away from their convictions about American exceptionalism and recognise the limits of American power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]