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Comments from the Awards Project Director

There are only two ways to live. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. --Albert Einstein

The National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy underscores the importance and value of citizen diplomacy and celebrates six Americans who are shaping the way people in other nations look at the United States.

While citizen diplomacy awards have been given by other organizations, the U. S. Center’s National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy program expanded the pool of nominations by reaching out to educational, business, faith-based, and community-based entities. Whether support came from government, foundation, corporate, or private sources, it was exemplary accomplishments which were sought. All nominees were required to be U.S. Citizens and at least 18 years of age.

These honorees are people to watch. They are people who have already distinguished themselves in some way – like college student Anjali Bhatia, who has involved her contemporaries in a series of education programs for Rwanda orphans of genocide and HIV/AIDS, or Greg Mortenson, who has been a champion of education in rural Central Asia – a region of the world considered the front lines for the War on Terror.

Another honoree, Detroit businessman and philanthropist Tarik S. Daoud believes “international relations are more important than ever in this unsettled world.” He explains. “Being a foreign-born American has taught me the lessons about diversity and the necessity for kindness to all of mankind, no matter race, religion, or anything else that divides us from each other.”

We proudly introduce our web guests to the remarkable and inspirational teacher Khris Nedam; the international mentor of arts organizations Jillian H. Poole; and the former TV producer and Peace Corp volunteer Donna Tabor. As we celebrate their accomplishments in the 2008 awards, it seems that these ordinary Americans not only exemplify extraordinary work as citizen diplomats, but each story reflects a life lived “as though everything is a miracle.”

All six honorees are further profiled on the U.S. Center’s website.

M. Jessica Rowe | National Awards Project Director

On February 12, 2008, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy will present its first National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy. This event is in conjunction with the 2008 National Summit on Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, D.C.

National Award Honorees

Anjali Bhatia, Tarik Daoud, Khris Nedam, Jillian H. Poole, Greg Mortenson, and Donna Tabor are this year's honorees for the National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy. For more information on the honorees, please click here.

A Thaw in the Cold War: How Citizen Diplomacy Transformed Soviet Agriculture

Des Moines, Iowa –   The US Center for Citizen Diplomacy will co-sponsor a Public Television documentary on Nikita Khrushchev’s 1959 visit to Iowa - of the least-known, but most important thaws in the Cold War.  It is a story of how Citizen Diplomacy succeeded where governments failed. 

Khrushchev had staked his political future on lifting his country from the brink of famine where it had been since World War II.  In 1959, he made an historic visit to America – the first by a sitting communist leader.  His itinerary included Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and Coon Rapids, Iowa.  Though few people realized it, Coon Rapids was the most important stop for Khrushchev.  It was the home of Roswell Garst, a plain-spoken, hard-headed corn farmer and agricultural innovator. 

In 1953, when Khrushchev declared the goal of “an Iowa Corn Belt in the Soviet Union,” Garst was the first westerner willing to share American agricultural advances, bucking the suspicion and mistrust of the Soviets in this country.  In 1955 he and Khrushchev started a series of agricultural exchanges which would transform agriculture in the Soviet Union and save the lives of millions. 

Less than a decade earlier, Vice President Henry Wallace had been pilloried in the press for advocating a closer relationship with the Soviets.  The anticommunist witch hunts of Senator Joseph McCarthy were gaining momentum.  Yet in the same political climate, Garst as a private citizen was able to make an enormous and lasting impact on the well-being of millions who were supposedly our bitter enemies. 

Today, with  political gridlock stifling peace efforts around the world, stories of Citizen Diplomacy are more timely than ever.  Khrushchev and Garst provide a dramatic example of how private citizens, working outside the glare of political and media scrutiny, can accomplish more than legions of government officials.

The film, currently titled FOOD ON THE TABLE, will include interviews with firsthand participants and scholars including: Sergei Khrushchev, Nikita’s son who accompanied his father on foreign visits throughout his career; William Taubman, Pulitzer Prize winning Khrushchev biographer; Victor F. Lishchenko, Soviet era agricultural attache; Ambassador John McDonald – US ambassador with Cold War postings in Berlin and Eastern Europe; and members of the Garst family.

The film is being written by Emmy Award winning writer, Edward Gray and produced by Ken Winber of Cabin 17 Productions.

A grant has been submitted to the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide initial funding .