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 

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. Tulli Ciceronis Orator Ad M. Brutum (46 B.C.E) [Hubbell, trans.] 

(More Quotes ») 

Article of the Week 

“Israel 1967, Iran 2025: two countries on the threshold of a nuclear bomb” – Mehul Srivastava, Financial Times, June 29, 2025. 

“The Islamic Republic faces the same question Israel had to confront in 1967: to create a measure of final deterrence by sprinting to a nuclear weapon, or step back from the brink?” Comparing the decision made by Israel then and facing Iran now, Srivastava finds that that “Israel’s unique status”—“seen in the Middle East as a symbol of hypocrisy” by the United States—“was the product of a different historical period.” Srivastava quotes historian Avner Cohen: “‘Iran wanted, and in many ways were imitating, the opaque Israeli modus operandi but their political circumstances were different — and more adversarial.’”