Wabash College Assistant Professor of History Sabrina Thomas is one of a select group of faculty members nationwide chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to participate in a special American history seminar on “The 20th Century Presidency.”
The 30 faculty members in history, political science, and related fields were selected from a pool of highly competitive nominations. The seminar will explore characteristics of 20th century presidential leadership, including several individual presidents and their presidencies, and will be held July 23-27 at Stanford University’s Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center in Washington, DC.
“This will help me develop my field on U.S. foreign policy and history, I am very excited to have been selected for such a prestigious program,” Thomas said. “I look forward to representing Wabash and to implementing the knowledge I gain into the classroom and into my own research.”
Participating faculty will consider presidents’ ability to handle domestic and foreign policy leadership as well as personal qualities including vision, charisma, credibility, communication, and consensus-building skills. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the seminar’s focus will be on three 20th century presidencies: Franklin D. Roosevelt in the context of the Great Depression and World War II, John F. Kennedy in the context of the Cold War, and Lyndon Johnson in the context of the Great Society and Vietnam.
In announcing the selection of participants, CIC President Richard Ekman said, “Strengthening the teaching of American history at colleges and universities is of critical importance. This seminar will provide a great opportunity for participating faculty members to gain a better understanding of effective leadership and to explore presidencies within the context of the history known then and now.”
Robert Dallek, professor of history emeritus at UCLA who now teaches at Stanford’s Bass Center in Washington, will lead the seminar. He is the author of numerous books, including these books relevant to the seminar, Camelot’s Court: Inside the Kennedy White House; Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power; Lyndon B. Johnson, Portrait of a President; An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963; and Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945. Dallek’s books have won a Bancroft Prize and been New York Times best-sellers.
