Talks from the Hoover Institution

Thursday, April 17, 2025 Hoover Institution | Stanford University   The Hoover Institution held a Fireside Chat With Stephen Kotkin & US House Select Committee on China on Thursday, April 17th at 8:00am PT/11:00am ET. Speakers: Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, US Representative for Michigan's 2nd congressional district  Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, US Representative for Illinois's 8th congressional district. Professor Kotkin, Kleinheinz Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region hosted Trump and Taiwan: A Big, Beautiful Relationship or the Deal Maker's Ultimate Bargaining Chip? on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 from 4:00-5:15 pm PT at Shultz Auditorium, George P. Shultz Building. We are only in the first quarter of the first year of President Trump's second term, but we've all already experienced a dizzying pace of activity. Whole federal agencies have been shuttered, some longstanding agency core missions have been upended, and we are suddenly in a trade war with unknown consequences. Ukraine has been dumped, then courted again. Canada is threatened with annexation, Greenland with invasion. In the midst of this chaotic approach to governance, the U.S. Indo-Pacific policy is still to be defined. There are some disruptions such as new tariffs (though forecasted long ago), and the suspension of development assistance, but one could also cite policy continuity (e.g. AUKUS and the Quad) and a slew of traditional, conventional practices (e.g. leader visits with joint statements and annual military exercises). Yet absent the release of strategic documents such as a national security strategy, and absent a major address by the President or Cabinet official, the overriding feelings in the region are uncertainty and unease. This very much includes Taiwan. While Taiwan has pro-actively taken steps to earn the “right” kind of attention of the new U.S. Administration such as announcing major investments in the United States and increases to its defense budget, many critical questions remain. Are we on the cusp of a closer, stronger relationship with Taiwan with enduring commitments, or are we building trade space for President Trump's next big deal with China? Mr. Schriver will explore these important topics based on his three decades of policy work related to Taiwan and the Indo-pacific, as well as his services as a senior official in the first Trump Administration.

Join Hoover fellow and Director of the Hoover Institution's Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative Jacquelyn Schneider for the launch of her new book "The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins of the US Autonomous Military Arsenal" at the Hoover Institution in Washington, DC on Wednesday, March 26, from 5:30 - 7:15pm ET.

In this inaugural episode of Frontline Voices, host “IRON” Mike Steadman is joined by fellow Hoover Veteran Fellow alumnus Greg Eason. Mike opens up about his journey from growing up in a single-parent household, to becoming a Marine Corps officer, entrepreneur, and community leader. Together, they explore the idea of “normalizing excellence,” how their lived experiences shaped their outlook, and what it means to be a change-maker today. They also discuss the power of mentorship, faith, and resilience in overcoming adversity. This episode sets the stage for future conversations with veterans leading impactful work across the country. Recorded on March 11, 2025. ABOUT THE GUEST: Gregory Eason is a real estate developer and investor focused on delivering high-quality housing experiences in emerging and underserved markets. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in quantitative economics, he served as a gunnery and training officer in the Navy before transitioning out of the military and into real estate. He currently leads a build-to-rent project in Atlanta, and is an angel investor in a 185-acre development in North Augusta, Georgia. As a Veteran Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Greg explored innovative housing solutions and the intersection of economic mobility, faith, and community investment. RELATED SOURCES: The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Jim Collins' Stockdale Paradox Concept FOLLOW THE GUEST ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Gregory Eason on LinkedIn

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country's democracy delivers on its promise. The fifth session discussed Tested: Why Conservative Students Get the Most out of Liberal Education with Lauren A. Wright and Brandice Canes-Wrone on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, from 10:00 - 11:00 am PT. Recent critiques of America's elite universities have aptly asserted that college students are being coddled and shielded from points of view they disagree with, setting them up for failure. But this depiction excludes the starkly divergent experiences of conservative students, who face extraordinary intellectual and social challenges inside and outside college classrooms. These obstacles are double edged: while they expose conservative students to adverse and sometimes hostile social environments, decades of psychology research also shows they may ironically impart educational advantages by forcing conservative students to defend their points of view. Are conservative students being better prepared than liberal students for life after college by constantly engaging in a more rigorous mode of thinking? This is the first ever ethnography of conservative college students at the best universities in the United States. Featuring hundreds of interviews with students and faculty, it fills a gap in timely conversations about intellectual diversity in higher education.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025  Hoover Institution, Stanford University The Hoover Institution Applied History Working Group (HAHWG), chaired by Milbank Family Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson, and vice-chaired by Hoover Fellow Joseph Ledford, held its annual History Symposium on February 11, 2025. The Hoover Institution Applied History Working Group (HAHWG), chaired by Milbank Family Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson, and vice-chaired by Hoover Fellow Joseph Ledford, held its annual History Symposium on February 11, 2025. The 2025 History Symposium has the theme of “Anti-Semitism: Past and Present.” World-renowned historians will reviewed recent developments in the historiography of this subject and related them to contemporary aspects of anti-Semitism, not least those exposed by the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and their aftermath. The Symposium featured a series of papers and panels focused on both new historical research and contemporary developments. Presenters include Mark Brilliant (University of California, Berkeley), Rosa Freedman (University of Reading), Jeffrey Herf (University of Maryland, College Park), Ethan Katz (University of California, Berkeley), Jonathan Karp (Binghamton University), Rebecca Kobrin (Columbia University), Olga Litvack (Cornell University), Daniel Sargent (University of California, Berkeley), Jeffrey Veidlinger (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), and Steven Zipperstein (Stanford University). In addition, the Symposium held a special session featuring Deborah Lipstadt, the US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism and University Distinguished Professor at Emory University, in conversation with Niall Ferguson. Participation is by invitation only. For further information, contact jledford@stanford.edu

The Hoover Institution held an event titled, "India's Policy Landscape: Insights from the Survey of India," on Tuesday, January 28th, 2025, at 12 p.m. PT in the Annenberg Conference Room, George P. Shultz Building, and online (via Zoom). This event discussed India's current policy landscape, using the Hoover Institution's inaugural edition of the Survey of India as a foundation for the discussion. The Survey of India is a comprehensive volume that provides an overview of developments in India across various policy arenas, including foreign policy, demography, economics, and education. Each of its eight chapters offers a panoramic view and an authoritative account of specific policy issues that are collectively shaping India's trajectory. ​ FEATURING - Šumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of the Huntington Program on Strengthening the US-India Relationship. - Jack A. Goldstone, Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr. Chair Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University. - Dinsha Mistree, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Research Affiliate at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law at Stanford Law School. - Nirvikar Singh, Co-Director of the Center for Analytical Finance at UCSC and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Economics, Management and Religion.

A discussion with three of America's most distinguished former governors - Jeb Bush (Florida), Jerry Brown (California), and Mitch Daniels (Indiana) - exploring the critical relationship between states and the federal government. Moderated by Michael Boskin, this conversation examines how these innovative leaders managed natural disasters, educational reform, fiscal challenges, and infrastructure development. The three distinguished former governors share candid insights about dealing with federal regulations, balancing budgets during boom and bust cycles, and implementing effective education reforms. Highlights include Jeb Bush's groundbreaking education initiatives in Florida, Jerry Brown's fiscal management in California, and Mitch Daniels' successful privatization efforts in Indiana. This timely conversation offers valuable lessons for current policymakers and insights into effective governance at both state and federal levels. Featuring: Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida (1999-2007) Jerry Brown, Former Governor of California (1975-1983, 2011-2019) Mitch Daniels, Former Governor of Indiana (2005-2013) Moderator: Michael Boskin, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution To learn more, read "American Federalism Today" by the Hoover Institution: https://www.hoover.org/research/american-federalism-today Part of the Tennenbaum Program for Fact-Based Policy at the Hoover Institution: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/tennenbaum-program-fact-based-policy 

Tuesday, January 14, 2025 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country's democracy delivers on its promise. The fourth session discusses Restoring Trust in American Elections: Challenges and Opportunities with Benjamin Ginsberg, Justin Grimmer, and Brandice Canes-Wrone on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, from 10:00 - 11:00 am PT. Public faith in the reliability of American elections has been eroding for decades with both political parties voicing concerns at times since the 1980s. Democrats have often pointed to issues like voter suppression and systemic inequities, while many Republicans have embraced claims of widespread fraud. Since 2016, and particularly following the 2020 election, polls have shown a more precipitous drop in the public's trust in elections. These divisions have raised critical questions: Are election results reliable? Is distrust in elections now an enduring feature of American political campaigns and does that impact the democracy? Are we destined to cycle through accusations of fraud and suppression with every contested result?  What have we learned from the 2024 election process? 

Friday, December 6, 2024  Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Institution held a conversation with President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Mary C. Daly and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, John H. Cochrane on Emerging Technology and the Economy on Friday, December 6th at 10:00 a.m. in the Shultz Auditorium, George P. Shultz Building.​ About the Speakers Mary C. Daly is President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where she contributes to shaping U.S. monetary policy as part of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). A labor and public policy economist, Daly is devoted to research and to ensuring that it is translated into practices that improve the lives of everyone. In addition to her work with the Federal Reserve, Daly has served as a visiting professor at Cornell University and UC Davis, and has been an advisor to the Congressional Budget Office, the Library of Congress, and the Social Security Administration. Daly is known for her ability to communicate and is a frequent speaker in the U.S. and internationally. She also hosts an award-winning podcast, Zip Code Economies. Daly holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a master's degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in economics from Syracuse University, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Northwestern University. John H. Cochrane is the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and an adjunct scholar of the CATO Institute. Before joining Hoover, Cochrane was a Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, and earlier at its Economics Department. He was a junior staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisers (1982–83). His most recent book is The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level. Cochrane frequently contributes editorial opinion essays to the Wall Street Journal. He maintains the Grumpy Economist blog. Cochrane earned a bachelor's degree in physics at MIT and his PhD in economics at the University of California at Berkeley. 

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Hoover Institution | Stanford University On behalf of the Hoover Applied History Working Group, Dr. Niall Ferguson welcomes Anthony Gregory to vibrantly discuss his recent book, New Deal Law and Order: How the War on Crime Built the Modern Liberal State. ABOUT THE TALK This special book talk discovers how the 1930s redefined law and order, transforming liberalism and reshaping American government itself. We remember the New Deal as foundational to modern liberalism, but its crucial role in building the law-and-order state has gone neglected. This HAHWG seminar will look to Franklin Roosevelt's war on crime for lessons on how political legitimacy relies on enforcement authority and consider the implications for today's fraught politics of law and order. The book is available for purchase here. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Anthony Gregory is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, at Stanford University. He is a legal and policy historian of the American state. He was previously an assistant professor in residence at Rhode Island School of Design's Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences. He earned his PhD in History at the University of California Berkeley, where he trained as an Americanist studying politics and law, and spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University's Political Theory Project before beginning at RISD. Gregory is the author of multiple academic publications on national security, constitutionalism, and legal theory and is currently working on modern American liberalism and criminal justice, particularly on how the New Deal war on crime legitimated and transformed U.S. governance.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country's democracy delivers on its promise. The third session discusses Polling: What Is on the Minds of Americans with David Brady, Doug Rivers, Daron Shaw, Lynn Vavreck, and Brandice Canes-Wrone on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, from 10:00 - 11:00 am PT. Attempts to understand what is in the hearts and minds of American voters has become increasingly difficult, and recent polls leading up to elections have often turned conventional wisdom on its head. This session explores some innovative polling practices and what we learned from political polls during the 2024 elections, including from one of the largest national panel surveys that started in December 2023. Panelists discuss what was on the minds of Americans as they entered the voting booth this fall, and the strengths and limitations of our attempts to understand voters through polling.  

The Hoover Institution Program on the US, China, and the World held Critical Issues in the US-China Science and Technology Relationship on Thursday, November 7th, 2024 from 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT at the Annenberg Conference Room, George P. Shultz Building.  Both the United States and the People's Republic of China see sustaining leadership in science and technology (S+T) as foundational to national and economic security. Policymakers on both sides of the Pacific have taken action to promote indigenous innovation, and to protect S+T ecosystems from misappropriation of research and malign technology transfer. In the US, some of these steps, including the China Initiative, have led to pain, mistrust, and a climate of fear, particularly for students and scholars of and from China. Newer efforts, including research security programs and policies, seek to learn from these mistakes. A distinguished panel of scientists and China scholars discuss these dynamics and their implications. What are the issues facing US-China science and technology collaboration? What are the current challenges confronting Chinese American scientists? How should we foster scientific ecosystems that are inclusive, resilient to security challenges, and aligned with democratic values?  Featuring Zhenan Bao is the K.K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering, and by courtesy, a Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Material Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Bao directs the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiate (eWEAR). Prior to joining Stanford in 2004, she was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies from 1995-2004. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1995. Bao is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. She is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science. Bao is known for her work on artificial electronic skin, which is enabling a new-generation of skin-like electronics for regaining sense of touch for neuro prosthetics, human-friendly robots, human-machine interface and seamless health monitoring devices. Bao has been named by Nature Magazine as a “Master of Materials”. She is a recipient of the VinFuture Prize Female Innovator 2022, ACS Chemistry of Materials Award 2022, Gibbs Medal 2020, Wilhelm Exner Medal 2018, L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award 2017. Bao co-founded C3 Nano and PyrAmes, which produced materials used in commercial smartphones and FDA-approved blood pressure monitors. Research inventions from her group have also been licensed as foundational technologies for multiple start-ups founded by her students. Yasheng Huang (黄亚生) is the Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also serves as the president of the Asian American Scholar Forum, a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting open science and protecting the civil rights of Asian American scientists. Professor Huang is a co-author of MIT's comprehensive report on university engagement with China and has recently contributed an insightful article to Nature on the US-China science and technology agreement. For more information, you can read his recent article in Nature here. Peter F. Michelson is the Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences and Professor of Physics at Stanford University. He has also served as the Chair of the Physics Department and as Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences. His research career began with studies of superconductivity and followed a path that led to working on gravitational wave detection. For the past 15 years his research has been focused on observations of the Universe with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, launched by NASA in 2008. He leads the international collaboration that designed, built, and operates the Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument on Fermi. The collaboration has grown from having members from 5 nations (U.S., Japan, France, Italy, Sweden) to more than 20 today, including members in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, Thailand, South America, and South Africa. Professor Michelson has received several awards for the development of the Fermi Observatory, including the Bruno Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has served on a number of advisory committees, including for NASA and various U.S. National Academy of Sciences Decadal Surveys. In 2020-21, he co-directed an American Academy of Arts and Sciences study, Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships, that identified the benefits of international scientific collaboration and recommended actions to be taken to address the most pressing challenges facing international scientific collaborations. Glenn Tiffert is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs Hoover's program on the US, China, and the World, and also leads Stanford's participation in the National Science Foundation's SECURE program, a $67 million effort authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to enhance the security and integrity of the US research enterprise. He works extensively on the security and integrity of ecosystems of knowledge, particularly academic, corporate, and government research; science and technology policy; and malign foreign interference.  Moderator Frances Hisgen is the senior research program manager for the program on the US, China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. As key personnel for the National Science Foundation's SECURE program, a joint $67 million effort authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, Hisgen focuses on ensuring efforts to enhance the security and integrity of the US research enterprise align with democratic values, promote civil rights, and respect civil liberties. Her AB from Harvard and MPhil from the University of Cambridge are both in Chinese history.  ​

Thursday, October 24, 2024, from 10:00 - 11:00 am PT Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions is proud to announce a new webinar series called "Reimagining American Institutions." The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country's democracy delivers on its promise. In part two of our series on presidential transitions, Stephen Hadley, national security advisor, speaks with Condoleezza Rice, director of the Hoover Institution and national security advisor and secretary of state, about how an effective changing of the guard is critical to national security. Hadley will highlight advice from Hand-Off, an edited volume of thirty declassified National Security Council memoranda prepared by experts to smooth the transition between the Bush and Obama administrations. This conversation will focus on what must happen in the upcoming transition to ensure the United States is kept secure from national security threats posed by China, Russia, the Middle East, terrorism, proliferation, cybersecurity pandemics, and climate change—concerns that dominate America's national security and foreign policy.

The Federalist Papers, a series of essays written in the late 18th century, advocated for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and promoted the idea of a nation designed by intent rather than by accident.  On Tuesday, September 24th, 2024 at 12:00 PM PT, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence celebrated the launch of the Digitalist Papers, which seek to inspire a new era of governance, informed by the transformative power of technology to address the significant challenges and opportunities posed by AI and other digital technologies.  This event was held at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, featuring presentations and dynamic discussions with the authors—experts in economics, law, technology, management, and political science—who have contributed essays to this newly edited volume. These essays explore how the intersection of technology with each of these fields might lead to better governance. By assembling these diverse voices and releasing these essays ahead of the November election, we aimed to shift the conversation toward designing a more transparent and accountable system of governance. Our goal is to impact the development and integration of digital technologies and transform social structures for the digital age. Join us as we embark on this pivotal journey to redefine the future of governance. This was an in-person event open to the public. Authors include: John H. Cochrane (Stanford), “AI, Society, and Democracy: Just Relax” Sarah Friar (OpenAI) and Laura Bisesto (OpenAI), “The Potential for AI to Restore Local Community Connectedness, the Bedrock of a Healthy Democracy” Mona Hamdy (Anomaly and Harvard University), Johnnie Moore (JDA Worldwide and The Congress of Christian Leaders), and E. Glen Weyl (Plural Technology Collaboratory), “Techno-ideologies of the Twenty-first Century” Reid Hoffman (Greylock) and Greg Beato, “Informational GPS” Lawrence Lessig (Harvard), “Protected Democracy” James Manyika (Google and Alphabet), “Getting AI Right: A 2050 Thought Experiment” Jennifer Pahlka (Niskanen Center and the Federation of American Scientists), “AI Meets the Cascade of Rigidity” Nathaniel Persily (Stanford), “Misunderstanding AI's Democracy Problem” Eric Schmidt (Former CEO and Chairman of Google), “Democracy 2.0” Divya Siddarth (Collective Intelligence Project), Saffron Huang (Collective Intelligence Project), Audrey Tang (Collective Intelligence Project), “A Vision of Democratic AI” Lily L. Tsai (MIT) and Alex Pentland (Stanford), “Rediscovering the Pleasures of Pluralism: The Potential of Digitally Mediated Civic Engagement” Eugene Volokh (Stanford and UCLA), “Generative AI and Political Power”

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 Hoover Institution, Stanford University The Hoover Institution's Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative presents To War or Not to War: Vietnam and the Sigma Wargames on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 2:00PM PT. In 1964, America was slowly marching towards war in Vietnam. But what if that war could have been fought differently or avoided altogether? The Sigma Games, a series of politico-military wargames run by the Pentagon's Joint Staff in the 1960s, sought to understand the unfolding conflict in Southeast Asia. These games, which involved top figures from the Johnson Administration—including National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy, Air Force General Curtis LeMay, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Earle Wheeler—offer a chillingly accurate forecast of the war's potential trajectory.  Choose your character for an immersive experience. See the game unfold through the eyes of pivotal figures such as John McCone, Curtis LeMay, Earle Wheeler, and McGeorge Bundy in this interactive event. This event introduces the games and turns to a panel of historians to explore the Sigma Wargames, their prescient warnings, and why these early insights failed to shape the Johnson Administration's decision-making, ultimately leading to one of America's most costly conflicts.  The conversation, while a look into a key set of games at a historical moment in American foreign policy, says something more broadly at the impact of wargames on US foreign and defense policy as well as how influence is created (and hijacked) within strategic decision making. ​PANELISTS H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.  McMaster holds a PhD in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an assistant professor of history at the US Military Academy. He is author of the bestselling books Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World and Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam. In August 2024, McMaster released his most recent book, At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House. His many essays, articles, and book reviews on leadership, history, and the future of warfare have appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. McMaster is the host of Battlegrounds: Vital Perspectives on Today's Challenges and is a regular on GoodFellows, both produced by the Hoover Institution. He is a Distinguished University Fellow at Arizona State University. Mai Elliott is the author of The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family, a personal and family memoir which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era. She served as an advisor to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick for their PBS documentary on “The Vietnam War” and featured in seven of its ten episodes.  She recently contributed a chapter analyzing “The South Vietnamese Home Front” for the soon to be published Cambridge University Press 3-volume work on the Vietnam War.    Mai Elliott was born in Vietnam and grew up in Hanoi and Saigon.  She attended French schools in Vietnam and is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.  (She also writes under the name of Duong Van Mai Elliott).   Mark Moyar is the director of the Center for Military History and Strategy at Hillsdale College, where he also holds the William P. Harris Chair of Military History. During the Trump administration, Dr. Moyar was a political appointee at the U.S. Agency for International Development, serving as the Director of the Office of Civilian–Military Cooperation. Previously, he directed the Project on Military and Diplomatic History at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, and worked as a national security consultant. He has taught at the U.S. Marine Corps University, the Joint Special Operations University, and Texas A&M University. He is author of eight books, of which the most recent is Masters of Corruption: How the Federal Bureaucracy Sabotaged the Trump Presidency. He holds a B.A. summa cum laude from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Cambridge. MODERATOR Jacquelyn Schneider is the Hargrove Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Director of the Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, and an affiliate with Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology, national security, and political psychology with a special interest in cybersecurity, autonomous technologies, wargames, and Northeast Asia. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the Naval War College as well as a senior policy advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Dr. Schneider was a 2020 winner of the Perry World House-Foreign Affairs Emerging Scholars Policy Prize. She is also the recipient of a Minerva grant on autonomy (with co-PIs Michael Horowitz, Julia Macdonald, and Allen Dafoe), a University of Denver grant to study public responses to the use of drones (with Macdonald), and a grant from the Stanton Foundation to study networks, cyber, and nuclear stability through wargames. Dr. Schneider is an active member of the defense policy community with previous positions at the Center for a New American Security and the RAND Corporation. Before beginning her academic career, she spent six years as an Air Force officer in South Korea and Japan and is currently a reservist assigned to US Space Systems Command. She has a BA from Columbia University, MA from Arizona State University, and PhD from George Washington University.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024, 10:00 AM PT Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions is proud to announce a new webinar series called "Reimagining American Institutions." The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country's democracy delivers on its promise. The first session discusses Presidential Transitions with Brandice Canes-Wrone and Christopher P. Liddell on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, from 10:00 - 11:00 am PT. The only thing we know for certain about the White House in January 2025 is that there will be a transition. Designing and operating an effective White House transition is essential to the success of any presidency—and to democracy in the United States. Former White House deputy chief of staff Christopher Liddell, who has been involved in three presidential transitions, will discuss concrete nonpartisan steps and recommendations that would significantly improve how the White House functions and thus help rebuild trust in one of our most fundamental institutions, the presidency. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Brandice Canes-Wrone is the Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. Canes-Wrone is the founding director of the Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions. Her current research focuses on representation and accountability, including projects on elections, campaign finance, and partisanship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. Christopher P. Liddell has held senior roles in politics, the private sector, and philanthropy. He was White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the Trump Administration, and has been involved in three presidential transition cycles, including the White House operational head of the transition to the Biden Administration, where he played a key role. In the private sector, he has been Chief Financial Officer of several major companies, including Microsoft and General Motors.

A fireside chat with Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 in Hauck Auditorium, Hoover Institution.  Condoleezza Rice, Director of the Hoover Institution and 66th US Secretary of State, Arun Majumdar, Jay Precourt Professor and Dean of SDSS, and Peter Blair Henry, Class of 1984 Senior Fellow at Hoover, conduct a fireside chat with President Banga on the importance of the World Bank leading "informed risk-taking" to catalyze blended (public and private) finance to fund investment in development and accelerate the energy transition.  

For the past 20 years, the Brazilian Supreme Court has become one of the most influential political players in the nation. In the name of democracy and the fight against misinformation, the Court has authorized a flurry of arrests and media bans that have garnered international attention. But Brazil is not alone. It belongs to a long list of nascent democracies around the world that are struggling to contend with ever-expanding judicial power. Using Brazil as our model, the question before us remains: how and why has this power arisen and what does it mean for the future of democracy? SPEAKER Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso studied Law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro in 1980 and received his LL.M. from Yale Law School in 1989. After receiving his LL.M., Justice Barroso was a Foreign Associate with the American law firm Arnold & Porter. He also holds a JSD degree from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (2008) and attended Harvard Law School's Visiting Scholar program in 2011. Justice Barroso practiced as a private attorney in Brazil before being appointed to the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court in 2013. MODERATOR Professor Diego Werneck Arguelhes is an Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at Insper - Institute for Education and Research, São Paulo. He holds J.S.D. and LL.M. degrees from Yale Law School, and LL.B. and M.A. (Public Law) degrees from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).

The Hoover History Lab and Hoover Institution Library & Archives held a special hybrid event with Benjamin Nathans, introduced by Stephen Kotkin, as he launched his latest book To The Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile—and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause (Princeton, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Learn more about the book. This hybrid talk with Benjamin Nathans, with an introduction by Stephen Kotkin, took place in the Shultz Auditorium at the Hoover Institution on the Stanford University campus at 4:30 pm PT. ​About the Speakers Benjamin Nathans Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania Stephen Kotkin Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Birkelund Professor in History and International Affairs emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Thursday, July 25, 2024 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann and Cambridge University's Hugo Bromley join Hoover distinguished research fellow Glenn Tiffert for a conversation about an economic contingency plan for a Taiwan crisis, based on their new report, On Day One: An Economic Contingency for a Taiwan Crisis. FEATURING Eyck Freymann is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a nonresident research fellow at the China Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College. He is the author of One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World (Harvard University Press, 2021). Hugo Bromley is a research associate at the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge and an affiliated research associate at Robinson College, Cambridge. He is a historian of British manufacturing and global economic statecraft in the early modern and modern periods. Dr. Bromley received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2022.

Thursday, July 25, 2024 Hoover Institution in DC. ​ The China's Global Sharp Power Project at the Hoover Institution held the launch of On Day One: An Economic Contingency Plan for a Taiwan Crisis on Thursday, July 25, 2024, from 5:30-7:30 PM ET. FEATURING Dr. Hugo Bromley is a research associate at the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge and an affiliated research associate at Robinson College, Cambridge. He is a historian of British manufacturing and global economic statecraft in the early modern and modern periods. Dr. Bromley received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2022. Dr. Eyck Freymann is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a nonresident research fellow at the China Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College. He is the author of One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World (Harvard University Press, 2021). Dr. Rozlyn Engel is Managing Director of the Treasury, Economics, and Commerce Division at the MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit corporation that has worked in the public interest for more than six decades. In her role, she leads MITRE's efforts to support the economic policy community while also working to strengthen the integration of economic considerations into national security strategy and policy development. Roz joined MITRE in August 2022, after a long career at the intersection of economics and national security. MODERATED BY Dr. Glenn Tiffert is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs Hoover's project on China's Global Sharp Power and directs its research portfolio.

Historian and author Luke Nichter will present on Watergate @ 50: Looking Back and Looking Forward at the next Hoover Institution Library & Archives hybrid event in the Un-Presidented Speaker Series. Fifty years is often sufficient for revisionism to reshape our understanding of even the most complex and controversial subjects. Not so with Watergate. Today the history we have is remarkably similar to what journalists wrote in the 1970s. However, there is hope for a breakthrough in the near future. Join us for this talk by Luke Nichter, American historian, professor of history and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University, and author or editor of eight books, including most recently The Year That Broke Politics. With introduction by Victor Davis Hanson, the Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. About the Speaker Luke A. Nichter is a Professor of History and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, with a focus on the "long 1960s" from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. He is a New York Times bestselling author or editor of eight books, including, most recently, The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968 (Yale University Press), which was chosen as a Best Book of 2023 by the Wall Street Journal. About the Un-Presidented Speaker SeriesThe Un-Presidented Speaker Series highlights conversations with historians and experts of the Nixon era, and is presented by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in conjunction with the exhibition Un-Presidented: Watergate and Power in America now on view in the Lou Henry Hoover gallery of Hoover Tower at Stanford University.  

The China Global Sharp Power Project and the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region at the Hoover Institution held the Washington, DC launch of The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan, a new book edited by Matt Pottinger, Hoover Institution Distinguished Visiting Fellow, on Tuesday, June 4th, from 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET.

The Hoover Project on China's Global Sharp Power and Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region held The Boiling Moat event on Thursday, May 30, 2024 from 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has openly expressed his intention to annex Taiwan to mainland China, even threatening the use of force. An invasion or blockade of Taiwan by Chinese forces would be catastrophic, with severe consequences for democracies worldwide. In The Boiling Moat, a new book from the Hoover Institution Press, Matt Pottinger and a team of scholars and distinguished military and political leaders urgently outline practical steps for deterrence. The authors stress that preventing a war is more affordable than waging one and emphasize the importance of learning from recent failures in deterrence, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Featuring Matt Pottinger, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, and Larry Diamond, William L. Clayton Senior Fellow. Pottinger and Diamond will be joined by contributors to The Boiling Moatproject: Gabriel Collins, Andrew Erickson, Robert Haddick, Isaac Harris, Michael Hunzeker, Ivan Kanapathy, Mark Montgomery, and Grant Newsham.

The Hoover Project on China's Global Sharp Power held Hong Kong After the National Security Law on Tuesday, May 14 from 4-5:30pm PT.  This event presented perspectives on the current political and civic climate in Hong Kong since the passage of the National Security Law on June 30, 2020 and the imposition of Article 23 on March 23, 2024. How have these developments fit into the broader history of the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong? What has changed in Hong Kong's once vibrant civil society? What is the latest on the trials of pro-democracy activists? How have diasporic advocates constructed a Hong Kong political identity in exile? Four panelists—Ambassador James Cunningham, the Chairman of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong and former Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau (2005-2008); Sebastien Lai, a democracy advocate and son of jailed Hong Kong businessman and publisher Jimmy Lai; Sophie Richardson, the former China Director at Human Rights Watch; and Cherie Wong, the former leader of Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK)—will discuss these issues and more in a conversation moderated by Hoover William L. Clayton Senior Fellow Larry Diamond. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Ambassador James B. Cunningham retired from government service at the end of 2014.  He is currently a consultant, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, an adjunct faculty member at Syracuse University's Maxwell School, and Board Chair of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ambassador to Israel, Consul General in Hong Kong, and Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Ambassador Cunningham was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Society, the National Committee on US-China Relations, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Sebastien Lai leads the international campaign to free his father Jimmy Lai, the pro democracy activist and publisher currently jailed by the Hong Kong government. Having had international calls for his release from multiple states including the US and the UK, Jimmy Lai's ongoing persecution mirrors the rapid decline of human rights, press freedom and rule of law in the Chinese territory.  Sophie Richardson is a longtime activist and scholar of Chinese politics, human rights, and foreign policy.  From 2006 to 2023, she served as the China Director at Human Rights Watch, where she oversaw the organization's research and advocacy. She has published extensively on human rights, and testified to the Canadian Parliament, European Parliament, and the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Dr. Richardson is the author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Columbia University Press, Dec. 2009), an in-depth examination of China's foreign policy since 1954's Geneva Conference, including rare interviews with Chinese policy makers. She speaks Mandarin, and received her doctorate from the University of Virginia and her BA from Oberlin College. Her current research focuses on the global implications of democracies' weak responses to increasingly repressive Chinese governments, and she is advising several China-focused human rights organizations.  Cherie Wong (she/her) is a non-partisan policy analyst and advocate. Her influential leadership at Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK), a grassroots community organization, had garnered international attention for its comprehensive research publications and unwavering advocacy in Canada-China relations. ACHK disbanded in November 2023. Recognized for her nuanced and progressive approach, Cherie is a sought-after authority among decision-makers, academics, journalists, researchers, and policymakers. Cherie frequently appeared in parliamentary committees and Canadian media as an expert commentator, speaking on diverse public policy issues such as international human rights, foreign interference, and transnational repression.  Larry Diamond is the William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He is also professor, by courtesy, of political science and sociology at Stanford. He co-chairs the Hoover Institution's programs on China's Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region.

The Hoover Project on China's Global Sharp Power, Stanford's Center for East Asian Studies, and Stanford's Department of History held What China Remembers About the Cultural Revolution, and What it Wants to Forget on Friday, May 10, 2024 from 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT in the George P. Shultz Building, Shultz Auditorium. The devastating movement unleashed by Mao in 1966, which claimed around two million lives and saw tens of millions hounded, shapes China to this day. Yet in a country where leaders have long seen history as a political tool, the Cultural Revolution is a particularly sensitive subject. How does the Chinese Communist Party control discussion of the topic? And how has an era which turned the nation upside down been used to maintain the political status quo? ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Tania Branigan writes foreign policy editorials for the Guardian and spent seven years as its China correspondent. Her book Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution won the Cundill History Prize 2023 and was shortlisted for the Kirkus non-fiction prize, the Baillie Gifford prize and the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. It was named as one of the Wall Street Journal's ten best books of 2023 and TIME's 100 must-read books of 2023. Glenn Tiffert is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs Hoover's project on China's Global Sharp Power and directs its research portfolio. He also works closely with government and civil society partners around the world to document and build resilience against authoritarian interference with democratic institutions. Most recently, he co-authored Eyes Wide Open: Ethical Risks in Research Collaboration with China (2021).

The Hoover Institution held Strengthening Trust With India: Implications of the 2008 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement on  May 6, 2024 from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm in Hauck Auditorium, David & Joan Traitel Building. The conversation was between key figures who shaped modern US-India relations through the 2008 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, an emblem of strategic US-India partnership and a major innovation in sustainable energy to power India's future. The engaging dialogue celebrates this important achievement and explores the future of US-India cooperation. ​ FEATURING Condoleezza Rice – Tad and Dianne Taube Director and Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy   66th US Secretary of State (2005-2009)     M.K. Narayanan – National Security Advisor of India (2005-2010)     Shivshankar Menon – Visiting Professor  Ashoka University   David C. Mulford – Distinguished Visiting Fellow  US Ambassador to India (2004-2009)   Nick Burns – US Ambassador to China  Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2005-2009)     Eric Garcetti – US Ambassador to India   MODERATOR Anja Manuel – Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns (2005-2007) ​

Tuesday, April 16, 2024   Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover History Working Group held a seminar on Cliodynamics of End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration with Peter Turchin on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 from 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm PT. The book is available for purchase here. ABOUT THE TALK Social and political turbulence in the United States and Western European countries has been rising over the past decade. Our research, which combines analysis of historical data with the tools of complexity science, has identified the deep structural forces that work to undermine societal stability and resilience to internal and external shocks. Here I look beneath the surface of day-to-day contentious politics and social unrest, and focus on the negative social and economic trends that explain our current “Age of Discord.” One of the most important, but little appreciated, such hidden forces is a perverse “wealth pump” that, under certain conditions, begins to transfer wealth from the “99 percent” to “1 percent.” If allowed to run unchecked, the wealth pump results in both relative impoverishment of most people and increasingly desperate competition among elites. Since the number of positions of real social power remains more or less fixed, the overproduction of elites inevitably leads to frustrated elite aspirants, who harness popular resentment to turn against the established order. In America, the wealth pump has been operating full blast for two generations. In historical terms, our current cycle of elite overproduction and popular immiseration is far along the path to violent political rupture. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Peter Turchin is Project Leader at the Complexity Science Hub–Vienna, Research Associate at University of Oxford, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Connecticut. His research interests lie at the intersection of social and cultural evolution, historical macrosociology, economic history, mathematical modeling of long-term social processes, and the construction and analysis of historical databases. A founder of the field of Cliodynamics, his books include End Times (2023) and Ultrasociety (2016).

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion with veterans Jason Galui, Colin Frances Jackson, and Felicia Pinckney and Veteran Fellowship Program Fellow John Moses led by Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider. Veterans' experience abroad imparts a deep empathy for the world around them, with significant implications for the local communities to which they return. How does the post 9/11 veteran experience of combat or service abroad, and the profound relationships built between servicemembers and foreign allies and partners, impact how veterans view their responsibility to others when they return home? More specifically, for this generation of veterans, how do relationships built in Iraq and Afghanistan influence veterans' advocacy with local and federal policies? How does the experience of the post 9/11 all-volunteer force manifest in democratic ideals at home? March 7, 2024 – Chelmsford Unitarian Church, Chelmsford, MA. Featuring Jason Galui | Director for Veterans and Military Families, George W. Bush Institute: USA Veteran Colin Frances Jackson | Chairman, Strategic and Operational Research Department, US Naval War College; USAR John Moses | Hoover Veteran Fellow; Co-Founder, Massachusetts Afghan Alliance; Retired SFC, USA Felicia Pinckney | Program Manager, Network Development for Home Base program, Massachusetts General Hospital; USA veteran Moderated by Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 Veteran, USAFR

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion with veterans Gil Barndollar and Robin Johnson, Veteran Fellowship Program Fellows Matthew Brown and Claudia Flores led by Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider. One of the greatest challenges for the All Volunteer Force is how to reintegrate a professional, volunteer military back into civilian society.  For many previous generations, this re-integration was supported by veterans organizations, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which created a space for veterans to share experiences as they re-started their civilian life.  However, the post 9/11 veteran generation has new challenges both in re-connecting with civilian life and in creating bonds between post 9/11 veterans that create positive societal impacts.  The rise of social media as well as the diversity and the volunteer nature of this generation means that Vietnam-era structures and institutions designed for veterans may not work for building social bonds between 9/11 veterans and their communities.  How does the post 9/11 veteran build social capital among each other?  How do they connect with their communities?  How can the post 9/11 veteran experience build social cohesion not only between veterans and civilians but also in the broader civil society?   Tuesday, February 20, 2024 – Denver, CO Featuring Gil Barndollar | Senior Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Statesmanship; USMC veteran Matthew Brown | Hoover Veteran Fellow; President and CEO, Chimney Trail; USN Veteran Claudia Flores | Hoover Veteran Fellow; Policy and Planning Director, Virginia Department of Veteran Services; USN Veteran Robin Johnson | CEO, Best Medicine Brigade; President, HEAL*ARIOUS; USA veteran Moderated by Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 Veteran, USAFR

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion with local veterans Cathy Cohn, Mikhail Venikov, Justin Adney and Veteran Fellowship Program Fellow Michael Wendler led by Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider, and featuring a special welcome by the Hon. Jackie Speier and Susan Manheimer, the former San Mateo Chief of Police. The post 9/11 veteran is not defined by one campaign or conflict. That can be something that often divides this generation. However, the remarkable diversity of conflicts and crises in which this generation served created a veteran generation with experience not only in fighting wars, but also building schools, curing diseases, fighting fires, and providing humanitarian assistance in the face of natural and manmade disasters. This means the post 9/11 veteran generation is returning home with extraordinary skills to lead and serve within their local communities. How does the post 9-11 veteran experience translate to public service? What is the role of the guard and the reserve in creating a bridge between military and public service, especially for the post 9-11 veteran generation? Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Elks Lodge, San Mateo, CA Featuring Justin Adney | Firefighter/Engineer, Santa Clara County Fire Department, Marine Reserve Cathy Cohn | Navy Veteran, Science Educator Mikhail Venikov | Army Veteran, Officer, San Mateo Police Department; Founder & CEO, RangerRoad Michael Wendler | Hoover Veteran Fellow, Judge, County of San Mateo Moderated by Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 Veteran, USAFR With special welcome by Susan Manheimer  | Chief of Police (Retired), San Mateo Police Department Jackie Speier | Former US Representative for San Mateo and  South San Francisco

One of the keys to China's global rise has been its strategy of deploying sovereign wealth on behalf of state power. Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, China has doubled down on financial statecraft, making shrewd investments with the sovereign funds it has built up by leveraging its foreign exchange reserves. Sovereign Funds tells the story of how the Communist Party of China (CPC) became a global financier of surpassing ambition. Dr. Liu offers a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the evolution of China's sovereign funds, including the China Investment Corporation, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and Central Huijin Investment. Dr. Liu shows how these institutions have become mechanisms not only for transforming low-reward foreign exchange reserves into investment capital but also for power projection. Sovereign funds are essential drivers of the national interest, shaping global markets, advancing the historic Belt and Road Initiative, and funneling state assets into strategic industries such as semiconductors, fintech, and artificial intelligence. In the era of President Xi, state-owned financial institutions have become gatekeepers of the Chinese economy. Political and personal relationships with prestigious sovereign funds have enabled Blackstone to flourish in China and have fueled the ascendance of private tech giants such as Alibaba, Ant Finance, and Didi. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Zongyuan Zoe Liu is Maurice R. Greenberg fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international political economy, global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, supply chains of critical minerals, development finance, emerging markets, energy and climate change policy, and East Asia-Middle East relations. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press). Dr. Liu completed her Ph.D at the Edwin Reischauer fellow at School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining CFR, Dr. Liu was an instructional assistant professor at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, DC, where she taught courses on global economy, economic statecraft, and Chinese foreign policy.

The Hoover Institution held a conversation on What is the Role of Future International Collaboration: Risks and Opportunities on January 22, 2024 from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PT. Dr. Thomas Mason addressed aspects of research openness and the daily need to protect the information that is critically important to universities, National Labs, the federal government, and the private sector. The conversation was followed by a 30 minute Q&A.  As a national security science laboratory Los Alamos National Lab has worked to strike the right balance between openness of research and protection of information for over eighty years. The talk addressed the historic importance of open international collaboration in fostering rapid innovation with economic and national security benefits while still recognizing the need to manage the risks that come with international engagement. SPEAKER Thomas Mason is the President and CEO of Triad National Security, LLC (Triad) and serves as the Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Most recently he was the Senior Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at Battelle where he had responsibility for governance and strategy across the six National Laboratories that Battelle manages or co-manages. Prior to joining Battelle, Thom worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for 19 years, including 10 years as the Laboratory Director. Under his leadership, ORNL saw significant growth in programs, new facilities, and hiring while achieving record low safety incident rates. Before becoming Laboratory Director, he was Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) for Neutron Sciences, ALD for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), and Director of the Experimental Facilities Division. During his time in Oak Ridge, Thom was active in the community serving as Chair of the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation as well as Innovation Valley, the Knoxville-Oak Ridge area regional economic development organization. He moved to ORNL from the University of Toronto where he was a faculty member in the Department of Physics and previously worked as a Senior Scientist at Risø National Laboratory and a Postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories. For the past 30 years, he has been involved in the design and construction of scientific instrumentation and facilities and the application of nuclear, computing, and materials sciences to solve important challenges in energy and national security. Thom has a Ph.D. in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics from McMaster University and a BSc in Physics from Dalhousie University. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY Norbert Holtkamp is a Science Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Holtkamp is also a professor of particle physics and astrophysics and of photon science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University BACKGROUND International collaborations and research openness have been enormously beneficial to the United States supporting rapid advances of world leading Science & Technology in our country. They brought a large group of incredibly talented people from around the world to come work with US science and technology industry. In the end, many of them stayed which provided a pipeline for innovation and business growth helping to maintain a standard of “world leading.” The simple fact that others successfully try to copy the process should encourage the US to continue. In a changing world though where the standards of research openness are not shared anymore, managing the risks better than in the past becomes essential. Research openness and specifically international collaboration with friends and opponents always carries the risk of unwanted release of information. Industrial espionage in the private sector does have negative economic impact, can threaten national security, or lose competitive advantages. Over the past few years, there has been a significant rise in the systematic collection of intellectual property on a broad scale within the domains of private, public, and national security sectors. This development has had a profound impact on the global research community. Research openness is commonly understood and shared by much of the World's science community and led by the US, for long was captured in a quite simple National Security Decision Directive (NSDD-189). Essentially: “It's open until it's classified”. While NSDD-189 wasn't abandoned officially yet, effectively it has been in many instances. New definitions “CUI = Confidential but Unclassified Information,” central control of international collaboration agreements, top down managed travel restrictions of “going to” or “inviting in”, strictly enforced Conflict of Interest agreements are all existing elements in a new world that grapples with the balance between openness and benefit from it versus risk of losing. The US needs a pipeline of trained engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Without inviting a substantial foreign national contingent into our schools and universities from which many will typically stay, it is not clear that US demographics would even allow the US alone to fill this pipeline. Whether it is the academic or private sector: it is essential to understand in more detail how international collaboration provided and can provide in the future economic benefit, intelligence insight, faster scientific discoveries, and sometimes even aiding diplomatic efforts and continue to bring the best and brightest innovators to the US. As part of the project, each of these elements (faster scientific advance – economic benefit – intelligence & insight – demographics & talent recruiting) will be addressed.

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosts its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants focus on the alarming lack of trust in US elections among citizens. With over one-third of the nation expressing doubt about the reliability of the electoral process, the participants maintain that there exists a critical need for strengthening confidence to avoid impediments to the nation's political leadership in governing effectively. Various strategies are discussed to address this crisis in confidence. These include conveying research findings, much of which is conducted by Hoover scholars, to dispel misconceptions that assert US elections are compromised by significant voter fraud or suppression. Additionally, the panelists emphasize the importance of enhancing communication with voters, providing clear information about the safeguards in the electoral system. They also advocate for improvements in the way the media reports election results, aiming to temper the intensity of public discourse, particularly in tightly contested races. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Ben Ginsberg, Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution Justin Grimmer, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University Lieutenant Governor Deidre M. Henderson, State of Utah Robb Willer, Professor of Sociology, Stanford University Moderator: Sarah Anzia, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Public Policy & Political Science, University of California-Berkeley ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution's scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosts its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants discuss the dearth of civil discourse at universities. It is suggested that university administrations are struggling to adapt to the pace of the social media environment and political pressures exerted on campuses from outside forces. Participants agree that faculty should focus on research and pedagogy. Instead of shutting down debate to evade controversy, they maintain, leadership in the academy should do a better job of listening and helping foster respectful conversations about society and politics with diverse points of view. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Anna Grzymala-Busse, Senior Fellow (courtesy), Hoover Institution; and Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies, Political Science, Stanford University Jonathan Holloway, President, Rutgers University Josiah Ober, Senior Fellow (courtesy), Hoover Institution; and The Markos & Eleni Kounalakis Chair in Honor of Constantine Mitsotakis Professor of Political Science and Classics, Stanford University Keith Whittington, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University Moderator: Stephen Haber, Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor, Political Science, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution's scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosted its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants discuss strengthening the American public's trust in the US military. Despite the military enjoying greater trust compared to other institutions, its current level of 60 percent, as reported by a recent Gallup poll, still represents a recent decline. Participants suggest that rebuilding trust requires addressing the deficit of civics and history education. Further, citizens must understand that one of the pillars of US government is civilian control of the military. Participants also maintain that a component of restoring trust is preserving the warrior ethos and maintaining high standards of excellence among military personnel. The populace, participants maintain, should understand that the military is intended to protect and defend the country, and its mission should not be sidetracked by political agendas. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS The Honorable Joni Ernst, United States Senator for Iowa Peter Feaver, Professor of Political Science, Duke University General Jim Mattis, Davies Family Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution; and former Secretary of Defense Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and former National Security Advisor Moderator: Stephen Kotkin, Kleinheinz Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution's scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University In this keynote luncheon, David Kennedy, a distinguished visiting fellow at Hoover and a history professor at Stanford, offers a historical perspective on the American primary process. He outlines the effects of rule changes that followed the 1968 election, mandating the transfer of delegates to candidates based on the voters' will rather than the discretion of party leaders in nominating contests. Kennedy is followed by Davies Family Senior Fellow, Emeritus, David Brady, who presents data demonstrating how primary voters from both major political parties invariably elect congressional candidates on their respective party's extremes, fostering a political environment with no incentive for compromise. The session concludes with remarks by senior fellow, Stanford political scientist, and pollster Douglas Rivers, who provides an analysis of the 2024 presidential election, describing polling data that demonstrates distinct advantages for Republicans. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS David Brady, Davies Family Senior Fellow, Emeritus, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, Stanford University David Kennedy, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University Douglas Rivers, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University Moderator: D. Sunshine Hillygus, Professor of Political Science, Duke University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution's scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1. 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosts its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants address how the US Congress can more effectively provide representation and regain the confidence of the American people. Panelists trace the decline in bipartisanship, attributing it to hyperpolarization that has grown across the twenty-first century. This polarization has resulted in legislative deadlocks, prompting occupants of the White House to act unilaterally instead of collaborating with Congress. Panelists identify egregious redistricting decisions as a factor contributing to polarization. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Sarah Binder, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution; and Professor of Political Science, George Washington University The Honorable Barbara Comstock, former US Representative (VA-10) The Honorable Dan Lipinski, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and former US Representative (IL-3) Jonathan Rodden, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University Moderator: Brandice Canes-Wrone, Director of the Center for Revitalizing Institutions and Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution's scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1. 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosted its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, scholars discuss the legitimacy of regulatory agencies in the executive branch. Concerns are raised about the unelected nature of the administrative state and its potential encroachment on the lawmaking authority of elected representatives. Scholars also address how regulatory agencies can bring technical expertise, emphasizing the integral role of presidential leadership and management in assessing the feasibility of agency decisions. It is further advanced that Congress could restrain regulatory agencies by bolstering its own staffing and resources, ensuring relevant expertise for effective oversight of executive branch decision making. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Philip Hamburger, Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School Michael McConnell, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law, Stanford University Andrew Rudalevige, Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government, Bowdoin College Sharece Thrower, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Associate Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University Moderator: Daniel Kessler, Keith and Jan Hurlbut Senior Fellow and Director of Research, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Management and Law, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution's scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

November 30, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Governors Wes Moore (D-Maryland) and Christopher Sununu (R-New Hampshire) in conversation with Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice offering perspectives on the state of American institutions on Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 4:30 PM PT.  Governors Wes Moore (D-Maryland) and Christopher Sununu (R-New Hampshire) in conversation with Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice offering perspectives on the state of American institutions.  In a bipartisanship spirit, the governors and Director Rice shared insights on how trust in and the efficacy of governmental institutions can be improved as well as the challenges of doing so in a polarized environment. Panelists shared their perspectives as chief executives and weighed in on reforms to improve democracy at all levels of government.   ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Governor Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland and is the state's first Black Governor. Moore earned an Associate's degree from Valley Forge Military Academy and College and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He earned his Bachelor's in international relations and economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was the university's first Black Rhodes Scholar. Moore served as a captain in the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan and was the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation. He also worked in finance with Deutsche Bank in London and with Citigroup in New York. He and his wife Dawn Flythe Moore have two children. Governor Christopher Sununu is the 82nd Governor of the State of New Hampshire and is currently serving his fourth term, receiving in 2020 more votes ever than any candidate in state history. With Governor Sununu's leadership, New Hampshire is ranked the #1 state in the country for personal freedoms by Cato Institute. Chris grew up in Salem, NH. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) with a BS in Civil/Environmental Engineering. As an environmental engineer, Chris worked for ten years cleaning up hazardous waste sites across the country. Governor Sununu lives in Newfields with his wife, Valerie, and their three children. Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion between Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, LTG (ret) H.R. McMaster, and Veteran Fellowship Program Fellows Megan Andros and Dave Foster. When veterans return home, they are not only supported by society, but also contributors to that society. Significant focus has been placed on the challenge of reintegrating post 9-11 veterans within a community that feels increasingly separated from the military. What is the role of the post 9-11 veteran in their local communities? How can the post 9-11 experience help solve local problems, like homelessness, disabilities, and community project financing? Can we move beyond “reintegration” to decrease the divide between an all-volunteer force and the society from which their members come? Friday, November 10, 2023 – Valley Forge Military Academy and College, Wayne PA Featuring U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan | Pennsylvania's 6th District LTG H.R. McMaster, USA (Ret.) | Hoover Senior Fellow Megan Andros | Hoover Veteran Fellow 2021-2022 Dave Foster | Hoover Veteran Fellow 2022-2023 Moderated by  Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 veteran, USAFR With special welcome by Col. Stuart B. Helgeson, USMCR (Ret.) | President, Valley Forge Military Academy and College