Showing results by author "Jeremi Suri" in All Categories

In 1865, the Confederacy was comprehensively defeated, its economy shattered, its leaders in exile or in jail. Yet in the years that followed, Lincoln's vision of a genuinely united country never took root. Apart from a few brief months, when the presence of the Union army in the South proved liberating for newly freed Black Americans, the military victory was squandered. Old white supremacist efforts returned, more ferocious than before. In Civil War by Other Means, Jeremi Suri shows how resistance to a more equal Union began immediately.

Leaders frequently suffer from tactical overload. They confront a barrage of daily crises, meetings, and other demands on their time. They rarely have time to think beyond their inbox. They rarely have the freedom for creativity. This lecture will provide an explanation for why leaders must break out of this tactical straitjacket, and it will offer a system for doing just that. Drawing on insights from historical thinking, this lecture will provide a series of concepts and tools for leaders to implement as they strive to think strategically, rather than tactically.

The American presidency is the most powerful political office in the world. Surprisingly, most contemporary presidents have found themselves severely constrained in their ability to pursue their chosen agendas for domestic and foreign policy change. This lecture will explain why, focusing on the nature of government bureaucracy, the range of American challenges and commitments, and the development of the modern media.

This lecture will examine the transformational presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and show how domestic policy was connected to foreign policy, particularly President Roosevelt's successful efforts to defeat fascism and remake the international order. It will investigate President Roosevelt's ideas, his leadership style, and his legacies for contemporary American domestic and foreign policy.

The years between the Civil War and the Second World War marked the emergence of the United States as the wealthiest and strongest nation in the world. America's extraordinary rise was unpredictable, difficult, and often close to disaster. A diverse group of citizens made key decisions to transform the country. This lecture will focus on the two most important presidents of this period, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt.