Active Diplomacy to Achieve US Objectives 1960-1991, in Central America, Washington, Panama, and Argentina

About the Book

FSO Bushnell relates his roles and their context, illustrating many ways diplomats work toward US objectives. Making the Kennedy Alliance for Progress and the new bi-national Panama Canal Board more effective and cooperative illustrate multi-year efforts, as do supporting the return to democracy in Argentina and enhancing a free market orientation in the World Bank and other development finance institutions. Losing in Nicaragua, winning in Salvador, and orienting the Carter Latin American human rights policy show the complex interplay of political forces in the US and abroad. Crisis management called for broad diplomatic skills in the Dominican Republic 1965, the Jonestown Guyana mass suicide 1978, and stopping drug money laundering in Panama (capturing Noriega) 1989.

About the Author

John Bushnell, a Foreign Service Officer 1959-1992, served in Treasury, AID, and the NSC staff as well as in State and Embassies in Latin America. He was often a leader during high-pressure situations: the 1965 Dominican Republic revolt, the Arab oil embargo, Congressional passage and implementation of the Panama Canal Treaties, the mass American suicide in Jonestown, the Mariel “invasion” when Castro filled small US boats with thousands from prisons and asylums, developing and defending Reagan's plan to defeat communist supported Salvadoran guerrillas, restoring and sustaining democracy in Argentina, arresting General Noriega and restoring democratic governance in Panama.