As he did during his first administration, Donald Trump, in July 2025, pulled the U.S. out of UNESCO.
David Killion, who served as the US Ambassador to UNESCO during the Obama administration, now lives in Santa Fe.
That proximity got him into a conversation this week with KSFR’s Jim Falk, host of the forum, about the country again withdrawing from UNESCO.
Killian described the agency as one that aims to promote world security through cooperation around education, science, and culture.
Killian provided UNESCO’s origin story during the interview.
"We created UNESCO with the UK when we were a rising . . . hegemonic power in the international system after World War II. And our aim was to be a benevolent hegemon, and UNESCO was gonna be one of the tools to do that. A lot of thought went into, 'How do we stop a World War III? And UNESCO was one of the central ideas that the United States came up with."
Killian said that while the U.S. would lose out on a number of international collaborations, the withdrawl enhances China’s position and strengthens its opportunity to make its culture the dominant one in the world.
You can hear The Forum, with Jim Falk, on KSFR, Mondays, at 6 p.m.
