A little past midnight on February 1, 1942, a then rookie potential staff of the Voice of America was summoned to a New York studio to record VOA’s first-ever broadcast to the world. It was an incredible moment. A pair of startled Voice announcers wore tuxes, having been summoned from Manhattan operas for their long-awaited…
As Americans struggle to regain our balance from the twin terrors of hyper-partisan infighting and the global Covid pandemic other countries are watching — and drawing conclusions about their future strategic and economic interests. Looking abroad, President Biden has emphasized rebuilding our global leadership and the advancing American strategic and economic interests through partnerships, a…
As America publicizes an extensive list of financial, technology and military sanctions against Russia to deter an invasion of Ukraine, the Administration is leaving one of its most potent tools in the shed. Washington Post columnist David Ignatius noted in the January 7 Washington Post that the U.S. would like to turn Ukraine into a…
Donald Bishop, a Public Diplomacy Council past president and scholar at the Marine Corps University, sounded out two former ambassadors to Afghanistan on lessons for public diplomacy from the United States’ twenty-year engagement there. “Afghanistan: A Look Back at the Whole-of-Government Enterprise,” First Monday Forum for December 13, drew 73 attendees. It featured Ambassador Ryan…
The value of presentation skill sets in public diplomacy is more important than ever. By Loren Hurst Today’s communications environment has vastly increased the importance of presentation skill sets at all levels. Public diplomacy practitioners compete with infinite content choices, where anyone can get online and produce a blog, podcast, or even a feature film.…
“My four children are now all safe,” Suneeta told CNN on August 28, as they were being air-evacuated from Kabul. Suneeta did not want her name or her children’s names published because of understandable safety concerns. Her husband had worked with U.S. troops prior to his disappearance in Afghanistan eight years ago. His fate remains…
The scene: a platform at the base of the steps to the Lincoln Memorial on the northernmost end of the National Mall. The speaker: African-American Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., America’s most prominent civil rights leader at the time and for generations to come. A quarter of a million people gathered in D.C. shortly after…
The situation in the strategically important South/Central Asian country of Afghanistan is crucial in the foreign policies of the U.S. and its NATO partners in the days ahead. In Afghanistan itself, August 19 would normally be a day of celebration: independence from British control on that date in 1919. That’s hardly the case in 2021.…
Following is the text of a letter from the Public Diplomacy Council and the Public Diplomacy Association of America to members of congressional foreign affairs committees regarding public diplomacy on the situation in Afghanistan. The Public Diplomacy Council and Public Diplomacy Association of America are non-partisan, non-profit organizations committed to promoting the professional practice,…
By Alan Heil Today’s news that the United States and NATO allies have departed the Bagram Air Base, the largest military installation in Afghanistan, calls for reflection. Twenty years ago, U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan. That was just a couple of weeks after al-Qaeda terrorists from Afghanistan killed 2,977 Americans in the infamous September 11 attacks…