Applied History Project

The mission of Harvard’s Applied History Project is to revitalize applied history by promoting the production and use of historical reasoning to clarify public and private challenges and choices. Founded by Professors Graham Allison and Niall Ferguson in 2016, the Applied History Project builds upon the foundation laid by Professors Ernest May and Richard Neustadt in the 1980s, reflected in their book Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers. 

Advancing its mission, the Project sponsors the Applied History Working Group of faculty members across Harvard University to organize discussions with scholars and practitioners; supports historians and policymakers in producing Applied History; develops courses in Applied History; funds the Ernest May Fellowships in History and Policy for pre- and post-doctoral students; and holds Applied History Events open to the Harvard Community and the public. Harvard’s project is one of the leaders among a rapidly expanding network of universities and think tanks that are furthering the discipline of Applied History by clarifying predicaments and choices to inform better decisions.

The Project gratefully acknowledges the Stanton Foundation's generous support for its Applied History endeavors. 

Quote of the Week 

“If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.” – Lord Acton, “Inaugural lecture on the study of history” (1895)

(More Quotes ») 

Article of the Week 

“The politics of breaking manifesto promises” – George Parker and Jim Pickard, The Financial Times, November 9, 2025.

As Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer weighs raising income taxes despite her party’s campaign promise to not touch taxes—a promise driven partially by memories of Labour’s unexpected 1992 loss on the basis of taxation—Parker and Pickard examine the role that broken promises played in the downfall of political figures including George H.W. Bush (“read my lips”), LBJ, and Reagan. “‘Voters,’” they report, “‘can actually forgive the ‘flip-flop’ or changes in opinion…‘It’s the action that people care about, not the promise. The problem is that people don’t like tax rises.’”