Press | History

The Clements Center for National Security, the LBJ Presidential Library and the UT-Austin History Department hosted Talmage Boston, historian and partner at the Dallas law firm Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP, for a book talk on How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents.

Dr. Pomar Joined Cold War Radios’ “Waging Peace: Lunch & Learn Series” to lead a discussion of President Eisenhower’s critical role in setting a freedom agenda in the early years of the Cold War. Following WWII, the United States sought to combat communism through a radio broadcast campaign across Europe. These broadcasts confronted the communist…

Philip Taubman, a lecturer at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, discussed his latest book, In the Nation’s Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz. The conversation touched on the legacy of Secretary Shultz, his approach to the Soviet Union, and is filled with anecdotes from Philip’s time in Moscow at the…

Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government, spoke about the history of isolationism in the United States, its role in the formulation of American foreign policy, and how the idea is now…

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Aaron O’Connell, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and director of research for the Clements Center for National Security, hosts a discussion with Rob Rakove,  a lecturer in Stanford University’s Program in International Relations. They discuss Rakove’s new book, Days of Opportunity: The United…

Marc Selverstone, the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, co-chair of the Center’s Presidential Recordings Program, and professor of presidential studies, moderated a discussion with Francis Gavin, the Giovanni Agnelli distinguised professor and director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies…

Carter Burwell, a Public Interest Declassification Board board member, moderated a discussion with Erin Mahan, Chief Historian at the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Adam Howard, the director of the Office of the Historian at the U.S. Department of State; and John Fox, a historian at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The conversation discussed…

Paul Noel Chretien, a Public Interest Declassification Board Board Member and retired Central Intelligence Agency Officer, moderated a discussion with Tim Naftali, a clinical associate professor of History and Public Policy at New York University; Matthew Connelly, a professor of History at Columbia University; Warren Finch, the former director of the George H.W. Bush Presidential…

Paul Edgar, Executive Director of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas-Austin, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and a scholar of ancient Near Eastern warfare, joins School of War to talk about war and peace in the old days—the very old days.

Aaron O’Connell, the director of research at the Clements Center for National Security, moderated a panel with Jim Goldgeier, a visiting scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation; Deborah Pearlstein, co-director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy; Jeremi Suri, the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at UT Austin;…

Sean Mirski, a lawyer and U.S. foreign policy scholar, discussed his recent book, We May Dominate the World, which explores the rise of American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. Mirski discusses how the United States pushed European powers out of the hemisphere while simultaneously expanding its power abroad. The conversation then pivoted to the anxiety great…

The Clements Center honors Henry Kissinger for his contributions to national security, diplomacy, and U.S. history. He served as a devoted public servant, leading scholar and practitioner of foreign affairs, and a helpful confidant to administrations of both parties. Over the course of a long career, he shaped and participated in a variety of momentous…

Applications are now open for the 2024 Summer Seminar in History and Statecraft! Policymakers frequently attempt to draw on historical knowledge to gain perspective on contemporary national security issues. Meanwhile, historians and other scholars frequently comment on present-day decision-making problems and sometimes aspire to influence policy debates. Yet policymakers and scholars generally occupy separate intellectual…

Distinguished National Security Fellow Gen. Vince Brooks participated as a panelist in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) panel discussion about the Republic of Korea-U.S. Alliance.

The highly selective program brought twenty-two advanced doctoral students from premier universities in the U.S. and abroad, including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Georgetown, King’s College London, Cambridge, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boston and Chicago, for a week of learning, discussion and networking. Seminar participants discussed the relationship between history and policy with distinguished policymakers and academics, including…

Congratulations to our Executive Director Will Inboden! His book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink, has been included on the shortlist for the 2023 Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award! The annual Award recognizes books that make an outstanding contribution to the understanding of foreign policy…

Clements Center alum Dr. Jaehan Park was recently on the Applied Geopolitics podcast to discuss the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula–past, present, and future.

In On Writing Podcast, Inboden and Neiberg Discuss Avoiding Preconceived Notions While Writing “The Peacemaker”

Will Inboden & Peter Feaver have a new piece in the Journal of Democracy “…considering what can be learned from the fruits and failings of the Freedom Agenda.”

Be sure to read the Wall Street Journal Opinion Saturday Interview by Kate Bachelder Odell with our own Will Inboden: “The Reagan Lesson for the Trumpian Right on Ukraine and China.”

Clements Center Executive Director Will Inboden joins Eric Eric Edelman on The Bulwark to discuss the alleged “October Surprise” in 1980, the charge made by former Carter NSC staffer Gary Sick that Reagan campaign manager Bill Casey colluded with Iranian intermediaries to forestall the release of the U.S. hostages until after the election.

Clements Center alum Dr. Jaehan Park was recently on the Applied Geopolitics podcast to discuss the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula–past, present, and future.

In the newest episode of the U.S. Army War College’s On Writing, Will Inboden & Michael Neiberg discuss process of writing “The Peacemaker” and how Dr. Inboden sought to avoid preconceived notions in order to present an unbiased, accurate account of the of the Reagan national security team in the 1980s.

Will Inboden & Peter Feaver have a new piece in the Journal of Democracy “…considering what can be learned from the fruits and failings of the Freedom Agenda.”

Be sure to read the Wall Street Journal Opinion Saturday Interview by Kate Bachelder Odell with our own Will Inboden: “The Reagan Lesson for the Trumpian Right on Ukraine and China.”

Clements Center Executive Director Will Inboden joins Eric Eric Edelman on The Bulwark to discuss the alleged “October Surprise” in 1980, the charge made by former Carter NSC staffer Gary Sick that Reagan campaign manager Bill Casey colluded with Iranian intermediaries to forestall the release of the U.S. hostages until after the election.

Emily A. Davis was the grand prize winner of the Andrew W. Marshall prize on Creative Bursts & Intellectual Outliers, which asks people to examine how creativity among peer groups or within an organization comes about, is fostered, and is maintained. Many unanticipated dangers—military, political, technological, foreign, and domestic—shadow the U.S. national security landscape, creating…

On this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Jonathan Hunt talks about his book, The Nuclear Club: How America and the World Policed the Atom from Hiroshima to Vietnam.

“…public diplomacy and international broadcasting are fundamental to our national security.” Mark Pomar, a Clements Center Senior National Security Fellow, has a new piece in The Foreign Service Journal.

The positive reviews for “The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink,” keep rolling in! National Review says that “William Inboden has produced the definitive account of how Ronald Reagan negotiated a peaceful end to the Cold War.” 

In this week’s Horns of a Dilemma, Maj. Ben Griffin, the chief of the military history division at the United States Military Academy, discusses his new book, Reagan’s War Stories: A Cold War Presidency.