doi:10.7916/x1c7-ah18Oral history interview with Ben Rhodes, 2021Rhodes, Ben, 1977-oral historiesmixed materialPresidents--United StatesArab Spring, 2010-Presidential campaigns--United StatesCrimea (Ukraine) History 2014-Crimea (Ukraine) Annexation to Russia (Federation)United States Foreign relations CubaUnited States Foreign relations AsiaLibya History Civil War, 2011-Rhodes, Ben, 1977-Obama, BarackIS (Organization)Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (2015 July 14)United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992 May 9)Protocols, etc. (2015 December 12)Ben Rhodes discusses the foreign policy of the Obama administration, in which he served as deputy national security advisor for strategic communications from 2009 to 2017. Rhodes describes the development and refinement of the administration's approach to major foreign policy issues and provides details about notable events, initiatives, and policies with which he was closely involved, including the normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal, the administration's responses to the protests of the Arab Spring, the NATO-led military intervention in Libya, the rise of ISIS, and the rebalance of diplomatic focus from the Middle East to Asia. Rhodes also reflects on the importance of language to the administration's foreign policy, and discusses major foreign policy speeches, including those delivered by Obama in Prague, Cairo, Ghana, Hiroshima, at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, and in receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize. Also discussed are the differences between the foreign policy of the first and second terms of the Obama presidency, the Afghanistan policy review, the administration's response to the Russian annexation of Crimea, the Paris Climate Accords, the domestic politics of foreign policy, and Rhodes' role among the policy advisory staff of the Obama 2008 campaign