Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Diplomatic History Conference, June 21-23

Legal historians interested in the history of foreign relations, international law, war and related topics will be interested in the upcoming meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, next week, June 21-23, at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia (that is, just down the road from the Dulles airport).

The full conference program is here. The Program Committee highlights the following sessions:
  • General Michael V. Hayden (USAF), the Director of the CIA, will be the speaker at our opening luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, 21 June.
  • A Plenary Session, “Domestic Politics Roundtable,” will take place on Thursday evening from 7-9 p.m. Papers: Mary Dudziak, USC, Making Law, Making War, Making America and Julian Zeizler, Boston University (soon to be at Princeton), When Liberals Were Hawks. Commenting: Mark Lawrence, University of Texas/Yale University, and Robert McMahon, Ohio State University.
  • Susan Ferber of Oxford University Press will chair a Roundtable, “Diplomatically Speaking: How Historians of American Foreign Relations Communicate with the American Public,” on Friday morning (9-11), 22 June. Expected to participate are: Warren Bass (Washington Post), Ralph Begleiter (CNN), Kai Bird (The Nation), Tim Naftali (Nixon Library), and Gideon Rose (Foreign Affairs).
  • Anna K. Nelson will deliver a talk, “The Pleasure (and Pain) of Writing about Powerful Women in Foreign Affairs,” at the Women Historians in SHAFR Breakfast. The breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, 23 June.
  • On Saturday morning (9-11), 23 June, a plethora of Kissinger scholars will give their thoughts and answers on the provocative question posed at the Roundtable, “Henry Kissinger: Cold War Villain, International War Criminal, or Conventional Cold War Statesman?”
  • Our president, Rich Immerman, will deliver his presidential address, “Intelligence and Strategy: Historicizing Psychology, Policy, & Politics,” at the luncheon on Saturday, 23 June.