Foreign Service Career Coach

08/09/2026

On Aug. 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office as U.S. president after Richard Nixon’s resignation; in a speech afterward, Ford declared that “our long national nightmare is over.”

The Gerald Ford Presidential Library & Museum Michigan Republican Party Auburn University Auburn Alumni Association The Opelika-Auburn News

08/07/2026

On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

"Viewed historically, the American intervention in Vietnam in the 1960s was an incident of gunboat diplomacy writ large; from outside we hoped by superior firepower to shape the domestic polity of an Asian people."

"No informed American can think of Vietnam without shame..." John King Frederick, "The United States and China," Fourth Edition. 1983.

Support Vietnam veterans, their families, and Vietnamese refugees. Thank you.

Vietnam Veterans of America Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America Vietnam Business Coalition for Women's Empowerment Auburn University Auburn Alumni Association Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW The American Legion National Headquarters

Photo: Reflections on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

"To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he see you now, ask why?" W. H. Auden, Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier.

08/03/2026

On August 4, 1944, acting on a tip from a Dutch informer, the N**i Gestapo captured 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam, Netherlands, warehouse. She died less than a year later in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

08/03/2026

Remembering Robert Conquest (1917- d. August 3, 2015), English-American historian, poet, and academic.

This AP obituary is sourced from the San Francisco Chronicle.

07/31/2026

On July 31, 1991 – The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.

US Senate, Capitol Hill Club, National Portrait Gallery, my late wife Evelyn Y. Davis with President and Mrs. Bush.

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

07/26/2026

Remembering Matthew Ridgway (1895- July 26, 1993).

"There would not be a South Korea without him."

07/24/2026

On July 24, 1959, during a visit to Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in his famous “Kitchen Debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

The 52-minute "Kitchen Debate" (Summit Conference in a Kitchen) at the American Exhibition in Moscow "will live in history."

07/23/2026

James Patterson, Auburn University 1983, recently attended an event hosted by the FALUN DAFA ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON honoring Shen Yun Performing Arts

Shen Yun presents classical Chinese dance and music to American audiences. During the 4-hour reception and panel discussion, Shen Yun artists described their rigorous training. The event was held at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C.

Patterson, an Auburn University graduate, is a former U.S. diplomat and life member of the American Foreign Service Association. He served in North and South America and Europe. In D.C., he worked on Chinese and other Asian issues. His father, a Korean War veteran, served with the Alabama Army National Guard for the 1963 integration of the Univ. of Alabama and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March led by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Patterson appears as a reporter in the 2014 film "Selma."

Photo caption: Shen Yun Artists, from left, William Li, Jesse Browde, James Patterson, Lucas Browde, Jisung Kim. Photo courtesy The Epoch Times

Auburn Alumni Association Alabama Education Association TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY Montgomery Advertiser The Opelika-Auburn News

07/22/2026

I'm happy to be on KRSL AM & FM in Russell, Kansas, remembering working on Senator Bob Dole's two national campaigns: Ford/Dole '76 and Dole/Kemp '96. I am proud of my work on these campaigns.

On KRSL, I talked about Dole's leadership on policy, policy, and his dedication to Kansas and America! Dole also had an outstanding sense of .

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation University of Michigan - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Michigan Historical Museum Grand Rapids Community College The Rapidian Michigan Live Gleaves Whitney

Wednesday, July 22 would have been Bob Dole's 103rd birthday.

07/21/2026

Thanks for your comments!

James Patterson '83 In January 2018, former Kansas U.S.