Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american diplomat”. Today it says “american diplomat who served as the united states ambassador to afghanistan”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
James Blair Cunningham (born 1952) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan . Cunningham previously served in various diplomatic positions, including chief of staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner (1989–1990), Deputy Advisor for Political Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations (1990–1992), Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs (1993-1995), Deputy Chief of Mission , Embassy of the United States in Rome (1996–2001), acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations (2001), Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau (2005-2008), and United States Ambassador to Israel (2008–2011). In as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, December 15, 1999" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1169410613.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Cunningham is an American diplomat . Having served as the acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations (January to September 2001), and Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2001 to 2005, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary ), Cunningham served as the Consul General of the United States of America in Hong Kong and Macau from August 2005 to June 2008. He is currently the U.S. ambassador to Israel . Cunningham To be Sworn-In as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, December 15, 1999 Diplomat James Cunningham to be named U.S. envoy to Israel - Haaretz - Israel News
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366637431.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
James Blair Cunningham (born 1952) is an American diplomat and the former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan .Cunningham has served in various diplomat positions since graduating from Syracuse University in 1974.Positions that he has previously held include Chief of Staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner (1989-1990), Deputy Advisor for Political Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations (1990-1992), Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs (1993-1995), Deputy Chief of Mission , Embassy of the United States in Rome (1996-2001), Acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations (2001), Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau (2005-2008) and the United States Ambassador to Israel (2008-2011). In as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, December 15, 1999 "Deputy Ambassador" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 650774982.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
James Blair Cunningham (born 1952) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan . Cunningham has served in various diplomatic positions, including Chief of Staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner (1989–1990), Deputy Advisor for Political Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations (1990–1992), Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs (1993-1995), Deputy Chief of Mission , Embassy of the United States in Rome (1996–2001), Acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations (2001), Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau (200–-2008) and the United States Ambassador to Israel (2008–2011). In as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, December 15, 1999" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964709137.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american diplomat”. Today it says “american diplomat who served as the united states ambassador to afghanistan”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
american diplomat
Now
american diplomat who served as the united states ambassador to afghanistan
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
