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

“The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.” – Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” (1785)

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Article of the Week

“How Congress Can Reclaim Its Role in U.S. Foreign Policy” – Geo Saba, Foreign Policy, October 1, 2024.

Recalling the US founding fathers’ distrust of “unchecked monarchs, many of whom plunged countries into ill-advised wars,” Saba asks why in more recent decades Congress has forfeited its constitutional power to check the executive branch. “For much of U.S. history, Congress upheld its end of the deal;” however, Saba writes that the creation of the Defense Department, National Security Council, and Central Intelligence Agency in the postwar period marked a shift after which presidents exercised increasing power in foreign policy. “Now, as it embarks on its final stretch before the November elections,” Saba concludes, Congress “must act to ensure that Washington’s foreign-policy decisions reflect the broader will of the U.S. people.”