Miller Center of Public Affairs

Special Conversations with Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. and Former Ambassador Ryan Crocker

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:00:00 EST

This special program was created using footage from multiple Miller Center events and will air on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings. Attorney General Eric Holder discusses his plans for the second term, including efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and conduct trials for accused terrorists. Ambassador Crocker discusses prospects for stability in Afghanistan after US troops fully withdraw. ERIC HOLDER was sworn in as the 82nd attorney general of the United States on February 3, 2009 by Vice President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Holder on December 1, 2008. In 1997, Holder was named by President Clinton to be the deputy attorney general, the first African-American named to that post. Prior to that, he served as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. In 1988, Holder was nominated by President Reagan to become an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. RYAN C. CROCKER, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan and the 2013 James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center. He holds the diplomatic rank of career ambassador, the U.S. Foreign Service’s highest rank. He served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012 and U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 2007 to 2009. He previously served as U.S. ambassador to Pakistan from 2004 to 2007; to Syria from 1998 to 2001; to Kuwait from 1994 to 1997; and to Lebanon from 1990 to 1993.

Lincoln's Code: The Laws of War in American History

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST

JOHN FABIAN WITT is professor of law at Yale Law School and author of Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History; Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law; and the prize-winning book, The Accidental Republic: Crippled Workingmen, Destitute Widows, and the Remaking of American Law. In 2010, Witt was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Before returning to Yale, he taught legal history at Columbia and served as law clerk to Judge Pierre N. Leval on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. A book signing will follow his Forum. With support from the H. F. Guggenheim Foundation.

The End of the American Century?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST

A professor of international relations and history at Boston University, ANDREW J. BACEVICH is the author of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy. Bacevich has held fellowships at the American Academy in Berlin, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Klansville, USA: the Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST

DAVID CUNNINGHAM is associate professor and chair of sociology at Brandeis University’s Social Justice & Social Policy Program. Cunningham has worked with the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Mississippi Truth Project. His current research focuses on the causes, consequences, and legacy of racial violence. Cunningham’s most recent book, Klansville, U.S.A.: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan, is the first substantial history of the civil rights-era Ku Klux Klan’s rise and fall. A book signing will follow his Forum. With support from the H. F. Guggenheim Foundation.

The U.S.-Israeli Relationship in a World of Change and Volatility

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:30:00 EST

MICHAEL OREN, Israel’s ambassador to the United States since 2009, meets regularly with officials in the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon, as well as with members of Congress from both parties. He regularly briefs Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders on issues vital to the U.S.-Israel alliance. Born in the United States, Oren has served as a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown, and as a distinguished fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. His last two books, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East from 1776 to the Present and Six Days of War, were both New York Times bestsellers. This event is co-sponsored with U.Va.’s Darden School of Business and Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics.

Who Stole the American Dream

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:00:00 EST

Pulitzer Prize winner HEDRICK SMITH’s book, Who Stole the American Dream?, shows how seismic changes, sparked by a sequence of landmark political and economic decisions, have transformed America. Smith examines the accidental beginnings of the 401(k) plan, the major policy changes that began under Jimmy Carter, how the New Economy disrupted America’s engine of shared prosperity, and how America lost the title of “Land of Opportunity.” Who Stole the American Dream? includes conversations with political leaders, CEOs, and middle-class Americans. Smith is also the author of The Russians, which took readers inside the Soviet Union, and The Power Game, which explored Washington's corridors of power. A book signing will follow his Forum.

The King Years

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST

TAYLOR BRANCH is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the acclaimed America in the King Years trilogy, which includes the books Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, and At Canaan’s Edge. For his latest book, The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement, Branch has identified 18 essential moments from the Civil Rights movement, and providing selections from his trilogy, has placed each moment in historical context. He argues that these events remain crucial for anyone who wishes to understand our divided political climate. A book signing will follow his Forum. Photo Credit: J. Brough Schamp

Before the Washington Consensus: India and the Rise of Neoliberalism

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST

NICOLE SACKLEY is associate professor of history and American studies at the University of Richmond. The author of several articles on the history of international development, she is currently completing a book titled Development Fields: American Social Science and the Practice of Development in the Cold War. During the 2012-2013 academic year, Sackley is a Truman-Kauffman Fellow at the Harry S. Truman Library Institute. Please RSVP to gage@virginia.edu by noon on Wednesday, March 27.

Beyond the Triangle: Asia and Washington-Beijing-Taipei

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST

The triangular relationship of Washington, Beijing, and Taipei forged in the Cold War was a key part of the strategic architecture of Asia. What would be the general effect on Asia of re-imaging the triangle as an inclusive, opportunity-driven interaction? This afternoon seminar will discuss the regional and global implications of rethinking the triangle. Our speakers will present perspectives from Japan and Hong Kong-Macau and provide the basis for a discussion of the general significance of a change from exclusive, security-oriented relationships between teh United States, China, and Taiwan. HAO Yufan is dean of the faculty of social sciences and humanities and professor of political science at the University of Macau. His publications include Sino-American Relations: Challenges Ahead (2011), Multiple Development of the Macau Economy (2009), Power of the Moment: America and the World after 9/11 (2002). Takashi SEKIYAMA is director at the Institute for International Cooperation Policy, Meiji University, and research fellow at the Tokyo Foundation. Session Chair Harry Harding is dean of the University of Virginia’s Batten School and professor of politics and public policy. His publications include The India-China Relationship (2004), A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China (1992), and China’s Second Revolution: Reform after Mao (1987). The International Workshop is made possible through the generosity of the following University of Virginia divisions: the East Asia Center, the Miller Center, the Center for International Studies, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Politics Department.

Rethinking the Triangle: Washington-Beijing-Taipei

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST

Taiwan’s future is with China, not against it. However, no new image of the triangular relationship of Washington, Beijing, and Taipei has replaced the security triangle formed during the Cold War era. This public panel will feature three perspectives from experts from China, Taiwan, and the United States in an attempt to explore a new paradigm for these interrelationships based on inclusiveness and opportunity rather than each hedging against increasingly unlikely crises. It will be chaired by the former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command during the Strait Crises of 1995-1996 and later ambassador to China. REN Xiao is director at the Center for the Study of Chinese Foreign Policy and professor of international politics at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. His publications include New Frontiers of Chinese Foreign Policy (2011), U.S.-China-Japan Triangular Relationship (2002), and New Perspectives on International Relations Theory (2001). LENG Tse-Kang is deputy director and research fellow, Institute of Political Science Academia Sinica and professor of political science, National Chengchi University, Taiwan. He is the author of Dynamics of Local Governance of China during the Reform Era(2010), Globalizing Taipei (2003), and The Taiwan-China Connection (1996). Brantly Womack is the C. K. Yen Chair at the Miller Center and professor of foreign affairs in the department of politics at the University of Virginia. His publications includeChina Among Unequals (2010), China’s Rise in Historical Perspective (2010), and China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry (2006). Session Chair Admiral Joseph Prueher was commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, 1996-1999; U.S. ambassador to China, 1999-2001; and James Schlesinger Distinguished Professor, the Miller Center, 2009-2011. Lunch will be available for persons staying for the afternoon symposium. Please RSVP to gage@virginia.edu by noon on Tuesday, March 26 so we can place an accurate lunch order. The International Workshop is made possible through the generosity of the following University of Virginia divisions: the East Asia Center, the Miller Center, the Center for International Studies, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Politics Department.