Ambassador Stuart A. Bernstein (ret.) and Wilma Bernstein hosted an informative reception on the Diplomacy Center Foundation’s efforts to raise funds to build the United States (US) Diplomacy Center*. The reception was held on August 5, 2017, at the Bernstein’s home in Aspen, Colorado. Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns (ret.), former US Ambassador to NATO and Under Secretary for Political Affairs, was the reception’s guest speaker.

Ambassador Burns’ comments on the need for the Diplomacy Center were met with enthusiasm and questions about the current state of diplomacy worldwide. Sharing details on the NATO response to 9-11, Ambassador Burns illustrated the importance of coalition-building among allied nations. The State Department’s ongoing activities laid the foundation for a positive response from NATO Allies to come to the United States’ defense under NATO’s Article 5. Part of NATO’s founding treaty, the principle of collective defense in Article 5 means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies. The mutual support among NATO Allies, which continues to this day, is one of many legacies that the Diplomacy Center will highlight in the museum.

* On November 5, 2019, the United States Diplomacy Center formally changed its name to the National Museum of American Diplomacy.