Trained as a historian, Dr. Barbara McDonald Stewart will speak about the diary of her father Ambassador James G. McDonald from 1933-1950 – the day-to-day recording of the extraordinary insight and observations of the times and meticulous recollections of his personal meetings with Hitler, Pope Pius XII, President Roosevelt, David Ben Gurion and others. Though not written for publication and never revised, Dr. Stewart understood the important historical significance of the diary in allowing them to be published. She will add her own reflections on history for the years when she accompanied her father as America’s first Ambassador to the new State of Israel in 1948. When her mother could not join her father, 21-year old Barbara served as the official embassy hostess where she met and entertained Israel’s political leaders and visiting dignitaries from around the world.