PhD Candidate
North America
I specialize in the history of U.S. foreign relations, with an interest in the presidency, political development, war, strategy, and intelligence. My research and writing generally concerns the exercise of American power in the world, but I also focus on presidential power and the relationship between domestic politics and foreign affairs.
Provisionally entitled "Restoring the Presidency: A Reagan Revolution and the Iran-Contra Affair," my dissertation examines the intersection of domestic politics and foreign affairs that produced the Iran-Contra affair. It shows how the resulting crisis of the presidency transformed post-Cold War American government.
Visit my personal website for additional information and blog.
For the 2021-2022 calendar, I will be an America in the World Consortium Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin.
Research Interests
- U.S. Foreign Policy
- American Political Development
- The American Presidency
- Covert Operations and Intelligence
- Law
- War
- Strategy
- International Relations
Publications
"Sex, Drugs, and Mind Control," International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 35, No. 1 (Spring 2022): 173-178.
Review of Cowboy Presidents: The Frontier Myth and U.S. Politics since 1900, by David A. Smith, South Dakota History 51, No. 4 (Winter 2021): 388-389.
Review of Why America Loses Wars: Limited War and US Strategy from the Korean War to the Present, by Donald Stoker, H-War, H-Net Reviews, August 2020.
Review of The Mayaguez Crisis, Mission Command, and Civil-Military Relations, by Christopher J. Lamb, Journal of Military History 84, No. 2 (April 2020): 652-653.
Awards & Fellowships
Predoctoral Fellow, William P. Clements Jr. Center for National Security, UT-Austin
Predoctoral Fellow, America in the World Consortium
Congressional Research Grant, The Everett M. Dirksen Congressional Center
Tisch Library Research Fellowship in the Humanities and the Arts
Department of History Research Award, Tufts University
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Research Award, Tufts University