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My Foreign Affairs

From Hubert Humphrey’s Vietnam to America’s Role on the World Stage

9781955656948
210 pages
Little Creek Press
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Overview
Power. Pressure. Politics. A White House insider’s journey through war, diplomacy, and America’s place on the world stage.

In My Foreign Affairs, John E. Rielly delivers a gripping insider’s account of America’s evolving role on the world stage, beginning in the crucible of the Vietnam War. As foreign policy aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Rielly witnessed firsthand the high-stakes power struggle between the vice president and an unrelenting Lyndon B. Johnson—who wielded brutal pressure to force Humphrey’s support for a catastrophic troop escalation. Rielly watched in dismay as a once-vocal skeptic became a reluctant cheerleader for the war, a transformation that may have cost him the presidency in 1968.

From the shadowy corridors of the White House to the international halls of diplomacy, Rielly went on to lead the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where he spent decades in conversation with some of the most influential leaders of our time.

My Foreign Affairs is both a candid political memoir and a masterful reflection on U.S. foreign policy—from the Kennedy years to the post-Cold War era. Combining vivid personal encounters with sharp analysis, Rielly offers a rare glimpse into how world-shaping decisions are made—and the personal toll they exact.
Author Bio
John E. Rielly has been a leading voice in American foreign policy for more than seven decades. He served as a foreign policy aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey during the Vietnam War and later spent 30 years as president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. A respected educator, he has taught at Harvard, Northwestern, and UC San Diego, and edited the influential American Public Opinion and U.S. Foreign Policy series. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and Internationale Politik. A consultant to the National Security Council and a recipient of numerous international honors, Rielly lives near Chicago with his wife and is the proud father of four.

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