* NEW * "FACING THE POST-WAR WORLD: EVERETT M. DIRKSEN ABROAD, 1945"

On February 21, 1945, then Congressman Dirksen set out on a world trip that
would take him to twenty-one countries, logging 32,000 miles. This was not an
ordinary junket. Dirksen traveled on behalf of the House Committee on
Appropriations to inspect American embassies, reconstruction agencies,
intelligence services, and the armed forces. He had a bird's-eye view of Europe
and the Middle East as World War II neared its end.

His stops included London, Algiers, Tunis, Cairo, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi,
Karachi, Teheran, Baghdad, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Palestine, Beirut, Damascus,
Ankara, Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Florence, Paris, Rheims, Augsburg, Dachau,
Wiesbaden, and Leipzig, among many others.
The Dirksen Center has created a Web-based feature that will give you an idea of
what Dirksen's trip was like and how it affected his thinking about the state of
the world in 1945. This Web presentation consists of the introduction, a
timeline of Dirksen's trip with links to selective, digitized trip log entries
and letters home, and a set of seven "anchor" documents with accompanying study
questions. The historical documents are drawn from The Dirksen Congressional
Center's archival holdings.

Our multi-media timeline about Everett Dirksen's trip abroad has been made
possible by a grant from The Fontaine Earle Fund of the Community Foundation of
Central Illinois. Additional financial support was received from Pekin
Community Bank, Herget Bank, and CEFCU.
Find "Facing The Post-War World: Everett M. Dirksen Abroad, 1945" at:
http://www.dirksencenter.org/1945trip/index.htm