Today’s guest, John Hillen, says that only a third of native-born Americans can pass the citizenship test that American immigrants are required to pass. He is part of a new bipartisan commission trying to change that. The goal is to revitalize the teaching of American civics and history. Hillen served as US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the Bush administration among many other roles. He is now teaching at Duke University in the Master of National Security Policy program. He is also affiliated with POLIS: Duke’s Center for Politics and The Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. He joins Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, to discuss the commission’s work and American grand strategy more broadly.

Read more about John Hillen.

Recently, the U.S. has experienced several financial crises - all of them hard on American families. In 2008, over eight million Americans lost their jobs in the Great Recession. In 2020, unemployment was at 13 percent thanks to the COVID pandemic. By early 2025, the economy had recovered and unemployment had dropped back to the 4 percent range. Then sweeping new tariffs sent the stock market reeling.

Vicki Bogan, who studies household finance, inequality and investment decision making, talks with Manoj Mohanan, Interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, about what this latest financial shock might mean for families.

Read show notes/transcript at our website.

The U.S. is a nation of immigrants, but we have a complex history on the topic. At times, the government has tried deporting large numbers of immigrants, with the goal of protecting the jobs and wages of native-born Americans. The current administration has announced plans to deport all undocumented immigrants, even some legal immigrants, as well as new travel bans. Hannah Postel researches the relationship of migration and economic development and provides a historical perspective on immigration deportations and restrictions. She talks with Anna Gassman-Pines, who leads faculty affairs at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Read show notes/transcript at our website.