A nation must think before it acts.
Date : Sat., March 25, 2017 to Sun., March 26, 2017 Category : Butcher History Institute
Co-Sponsored by Center for the Study of America and the West
The decision to go to war is the most momentous any leader, any nation, can make. For the United States, the process of declaring war, enshrined in the constitution, has always been a source of domestic political dispute as well as geopolitical interest, as every conflict raised anew the fundamental question of whether and how the United States should deal with the wider world. Presidents and Congresses have not always agreed on the nature of the threat and the proper response. Often, the decision formally to declare war came only after a buildup of pressure that broke domestic partisan resistance. Since 1942, questions of war and peace have become even more complicated, as Presidents have used their executive authority to commit American troops to fighting without presenting Congress with a formal vote to declare war.
Why has the United States gone to war? What were the casus belli? Who advocated for war and who resisted—and why did they do so? Who decided and why? What were the strategic/military considerations? How did each experience with going to war shape the discussion of subsequent conflicts?
These vital questions will guide the discussion at our next History Institute for Teachers.
Application deadline: January 30, 2017
For a compilation of essays drawn from previous history weekends, be sure to see: American Military History: A Resource for Teachers and Students, edited by Paul Herbert and Michael Noonan (FPRI and First Division Museum, 2013).
Watch the Full Conference Here:
Executive Director
Walter A. McDougallAlloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations
Co-Chair - Butcher History Institute
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Welcoming Remarks by Paul Herbert and Walter McDougall
Research Fellow
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Professor of Comparative Military History - Air Command and Staff College
Senior Fellow - Center for the Study of America and the West
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Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations
Co-Chair - Butcher History Institute
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The Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
Senior Lecturer - Cornell University
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A Match is Nothing Without a Fuse; A Fuse is Nothing Without a Bomb: Starting Two Wars, 1898-1899
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The Spanish-American War (1898)
Professor of History - Georgia Southern University
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Associate Professor - The University of Southern Mississippi
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Why the United States Went to War in Vietnam
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Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs - Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
Senior Fellow - National Security Program
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Venue
First Division Museum at Cantigny
Mon., January 30, 2017
WHAT PARTICIPANTS RECEIVE Forty participants will be selected to receive: