Anthony Clark Arend

Dean Peter F. Krogh

This past weekend, Georgetown University unveiled an amazing treasure trove of history– the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives. Over his forty-year career as Dean and Dean Emeritus of the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Peter hosted three exceptional television programs on foreign affairs– and has an Emmy Award to prove it. Recently, Lauinger Library digitalized these programs, and they are now available to the public. As the website explains:

The Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives were created by the Georgetown University Library in collaboration with Dr. Peter Krogh, Dean and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. The site includes more than two hundred episodes from three television series moderated by Dean Krogh between 1981 and 2005: American Interests, World Beat, and Great Decisions (the latter in collaboration with the Foreign Policy Association).

By offering this collection to a worldwide audience, our goal is to illuminate—for teachers, students, and the general public—foreign policy issues that figured prominently toward the end of the 20th century and to preserve the content for future generations. The programs, some of which feature leading foreign policy figures (e.g., King Hussein of Jordan, Henry Kissinger, and Zbigniew Brzezinski), cover topics that remain highly relevant, including nuclear proliferation, global warming, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and international terrorism. As the famous popular historian, David McCullough, has observed: “There really is no such thing as the past.” The programs in the Archives underscore how right he is.

The programs are, of course, a trip down memory lane– witness then-Assistant Secretary of State for  African Affairs Chet Crocker discussing the Reagan Administration’s approach to Africa, or Madeleine Albright talking about the ethics of intervention in 1989, or Carol Lancaster and Don McHenry discussing U.S. aid policy in 1996. But they are also a remarkable compendium of some of the enduring principles of international affairs.

Kudos to Peter for being the impresario of these extraordinary programs! In their digitialized form, they will continue to be of great benefit to all students of international affairs.