Robert HutchingsThis Thursday, November 14, Robert Hutchings, the Walt and Elspeth Rostow Chair in National Security and a professor of public affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, will visit Southwestern University as a guest speaker. Drawing on newly declassified documents from the American, Russian, and German archives, Hutchings will reflect on the Eastern European revolutions of 1989, the unification of Germany, the collapse of the U.S.S.R., and the role played by U.S. diplomacy.

After completing his undergraduate degree in naval science and foreign affairs at the U.S. Naval Academy, Hutchings served as an officer in the U.S. Navy at various posts in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He earned his master’s in government at the College of William and Mary and his doctorate, also in government, from the University of Virginia. 

Early in his distinguished career, Hutchings served on the faculty of the University of Virginia and then as deputy and acting director of Radio Free Europe, in Munich, Germany. Between 1989 and 1992, Hutchings served with the National Security Council (NSC), the advising and coordinating body of the executive branch that consults on matters related to national security, foreign policy, and the military. As director for European affairs with the NSC, Hutchings helped shape U.S. policy toward Europe and the Soviet Union during the collapse of the Soviet empire. His career has also included service as special adviser to the secretary of state with the rank of ambassador and chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council. For his service, Hutchings has received a range of significant awards, including the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, the Superior Honor Award from the U.S. State Department, and the Order of Merit (with Commander’s Cross) from the Republic of Poland.

Before joining the faculty of UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs and serving as the school’s dean from 2010 to 2015, Hutchings was diplomat in residence at Princeton University, where he also served as assistant dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and as faculty chair of its master in public policy program. He is the author or editor of numerous articles and book chapters as well as six books on U.S. foreign policy and European affairs, including Soviet–East European Relations: Consolidation and Conflict (University of Wisconsin Press, 1983) and American Diplomacy and the End of the Cold War: An Insider’s Account of U.S. Policy in Europe, 1989–1992. His most recent book, written and edited with Jeremi Suri, is Modern Diplomacy in Practice (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming 2020). 

Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Mood–Bridwell Hall Atrium
Sponsors: Political Science and History Departments
Contact: Professor of Political Science Robert Snyder