ADAPTIVE CHANGE: HOW AMERICAN PRESIDENTS RESPONDED TO MAJOR EVENTS

Professor Timothy J. Lynch, University of Melbourne

How do the leaders of the world’s most powerful nation manage change? Using a series of case studies, this interactive session will explore the good and bad change management strategies of several US presidents. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt inherited a nation in economic and social collapse. How did he change those fortunes? In 1962, John Kennedy narrowly averted nuclear war arising as a result of a Russian military presence in Cuba. How did he manage the crisis? In 1989, George H. W. Bush became president as the Soviet Union began to fall apart. How did he handle this remarkable turning point in world history? In 2001, soon after becoming President, George W. Bush was confronted by the 9/11 attack. Why did he react in the way he did? In 2009, Barack Obama was handed the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. How do we assess his response? How do the decisions of these leaders help us understand the possibilities of change across time and sectors? Our session will help us answer that question.

Professor timothy J. Lynch, University of Melbourne

Timothy Lynch is Professor of American Politics at the University of Melbourne. His latest book, In the Shadow of the Cold War: American Foreign Policy from George Bush Sr. to Donald Trump (Cambridge, 2020), has been described by prominent commentator on American foreign policy, Michael Mandelbaum, as ‘a cogent, graceful, provocative account’ of its subject. Tim’s other books include Turf War: the Clinton Administration and Northern Ireland (Ashgate, 2004) and US Foreign Policy and Democracy Promotion (Routledge, 2013). His co-authored book After Bush: the Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2008), won the Richard Neustadt Book Prize and became a best-selling international security text.

Tim is editor of the two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History (2013). His many op-eds have had over one million hits. He is a regular contributor to The Australian newspaper.

At the University of Melbourne, Tim led the team that created the Master of Marketing Communications – the fastest growing degree in the Faculty of Arts’ history. He was co-creator and convenor of the sell-out ‘10 Great Books’ Melbourne Masterclass.

Twice a Fulbright scholar, Tim holds a PhD in political science from Boston College, USA. Born in Warwickshire and raised in Leicestershire, Tim is a citizen of Australia and Great Britain. He lives in rural Victoria. 

Hear Professor Lynch speak about this H21 lecture below:

You may also be interested in Professor Lynch’s talk about Abraham Lincoln: Harnessing Diversity.

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