Joseph Ledford

Joseph A. Ledford is a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution where he researches individuals and institutions responsible for the exercise of American power in the world. He was a 2021-2022 America in the World Consortium Predoctoral Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin, before later serving as a 2022-2023 America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Joseph received his Ph.D. in history at the University of California, Berkeley in August of 2022 and was a Graduate Student Affiliate of the Institute of International Studies at Berkeley. Joseph specializes in the history of U.S. foreign relations and the American presidency. He is also concerned with the strategic thinking that informs national security and the use of military force, maintaining a broad interest in matters of intelligence, strategy, and war.

Joseph recently completed a study of the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra affair. In his dissertation, “Restoring the Presidency: A Reagan Revolution and the Iran-Contra Affair,” Joseph examines the intersection of domestic politics and foreign policy that produced the Iran-Contra affair and shows how the resulting crisis of the presidency transformed American governance. Of all the pivotal events during the Reagan era, his dissertation reveals that Iran-Contra was the most consequential for both U.S. foreign policy and the post-Cold War American presidency.

Joseph’s writing has appeared in the Journal of Military History, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, and on H-War. His research has received support from institutions such as the Everett M. Dirksen Congressional Center and the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.