Book launch: Footnotes to History, Law and Diplomacy, 1965-2005
October 3, 2023, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Offices of Eni S.p.A. | 601 13th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, Suite 700
Register using the form below
The Washington Foreign Law Society (WFLS) and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) invite members and friends to a reception to launch Mark Feldman’s new book, Footnotes to History, Law and Diplomacy, 1965–2005 (Xlibris, June 2023), which is based on his ADST oral history documenting some of the most dramatic crises in U.S. foreign relations in those decades.
Drinks and light refreshments will be provided.
Susan Johnson, President of ADST, will introduce ADST’s flagship Foreign Affairs Oral History program and provide a brief overview of ADST’s work in collecting, preserving, and disseminating the experiences and insights of U.S. foreign affairs practitioners over nine decades. Mark Feldman will discuss the role of State Department attorneys supporting the U.S. Foreign Service, which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2024 and 2025.
Mark Feldman’s Footnotes to History: Law and Diplomacy, 1965–2005 offers a candid discussion on the formation of U.S. foreign policy. The book also provides fresh insights from "Inside the Room," shedding light on significant events like Vietnam, Panama, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and two wars in Iraq. Additionally, it explores Mark’s work on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, U.S. maritime boundaries, illicit trade in antiquities, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The book highlights his experience with Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter, as well as his strange encounter with Klaus Barbie, the butcher of Lyon.
Mark is offering books to registrants at author’s cost—Hardback: $24.00; Softcover: $14.00. Books purchased in advance can be picked up at the event. No sales will be made on premises. To purchase one or more books, please use the order form below. Supply is limited.
Detailed agenda:
6:00 – Doors open
6:15 – Introduction by Susan Johnson (ADST)
6:30 – Discussion between Mark Feldman and Robin Matthewman
Mark B. Feldman has been engaged in U.S. foreign relations law and transnational litigation since 1965, including sixteen years at the U.S. Department of State, twenty years teaching at the Georgetown University Law Center, and extensive private practice. As Deputy and Acting Legal Adviser (1974–81), Professor Feldman played a major role in drafting the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Iran Claims Agreement. He negotiated the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Property as well as U.S. maritime boundaries with Canada, Cuba, and Mexico. His publications and Congressional testimony are described at www.markfeldmaninternationallaw.com.
Susan R. Johnson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. She retired in 2015 and has served as the President of ADST since 2016. During her thirty-five years in the Foreign Service, she served in a broad range of bilateral and multilateral assignments in and out of the State Department including in Bosnia as Deputy High Representative and Supervisor of Brcko District, in Baghdad as the Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, as Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’affaires in Romania and Mauritius, IESC Director for Central Asia based in Kazakhstan, as well as in Russia, Cuba, Pakistan, the United States Mission to the United Nations, and in the State Department, on the Hill, and with the National Endowment for Democracy.
Robin Matthewman began working as an oral historian for ADST in 2020, initially on detail from the State Department, and has interviewed foreign affairs specialists from all levels and specialties. She recently conducted interviews with most of the U.S. Ambassadors who served in Kabul between 2002 and 2021 as part of ADST's Afghanistan project. She retired from the U.S. Senior Foreign Service in 2022, after a thirty-five-year career. Her overseas tours included economic, commercial, and consular tours in Mexico, Costa Rica, Russia, Honduras, and Iraq. She served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires in Montevideo and San Jose, Principal Officer in Guadalajara, and briefly as Chargé in Curacao.
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