A few weeks ago I wrote about 19th-century diplomats from Arkansas. It was not a pretty picture, especially the appointment of Solon Borland as America's first minister to Nicaragua in 1853. His huge ego and combative personality resulted in a diplomatic tiff and the use of the U.S. Navy to bombard and destroy a Nicaraguan city, the first instance of "gunboat diplomacy" in American history.
A few weeks ago I wrote about 19th century diplomats from Arkansas. It was not a pretty picture, especially the appointment of Solon Borland as America's first minister to Nicaragua in 1853. His huge ego and combative personality resulted in a diplomatic tiff and the use of the U.S. Navy to bombard and destroy a Nicaraguan city, the first instance of "gunboat diplomacy" in American history.