The Hoover Institution welcomed its overseers for the summer 2022 board meeting July 12–14, marking the first time the event has been hosted in person and on the Stanford University campus since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to board committee sessions, overseers also enjoyed presentations from Hoover leaders and fellows about the work of the Institution, as well as pressing policy issues impacting the United States, including geostrategic competition posed by China, the current crisis of energy shortages and price instability in the economy, and whether Ukraine can launch a counteroffensive against the Russian army and expel it from its borders.
The Latest at Hoover
Tad and Dianne Taube Director Condoleezza Rice opened with a briefing about recent activities of the Hoover Institution, describing how fellows are providing research-based solutions to challenges, as listed above. She explained that deep social divisions across the country, hotly contested elections, and negative attitudes about the history of America, whatever its flaws, have eroded trust in the efficacy of democracy and have become an obstacle to the nation’s potential for expanding freedom and prosperity.
Rice underscored the importance of restoring confidence in America’s democratic traditions and foundations. With this goal in mind, she announced to overseers that the Hoover Institution will be launching a new Center for the Revitalization of American Institutions. This new center will focus on understanding and providing answers to this crisis of confidence, as well as providing policy recommendations to strengthen the ability of American democracy to address contemporary challenges. It will also develop educational programs to explain the principles and values that undergird democratic institutions, aimed at K–12 students and the attentive public at large.
During the briefing, Rice was followed by deputy director Eric Wakin, director of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, who described its efforts to acquire and preserve endangered historical collections in conflict zones across the world—including Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Syria. Wakin also explained how the Library & Archives is assembling new collections that align with the fellowship’s research initiatives. These efforts include building a repository for data that Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider has collected from the war games she has run at the Hoover Institution and with policy leaders from across the world; acquiring data from millions of documents abandoned amid the destruction caused by the decade-long Syrian War to support projects of the Middle East and the Islamic World Working Group, chaired by Senior Fellow Russell Berman; and gathering resources on artificial intelligence to complement Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow Amy Zegart’s work on the intersection between national security and advanced technologies.
When Condoleezza Rice became director two years ago, she made one of her key institutional priorities to advance policy ideas to state and local levels of government, where decisions are made closer to the people and can have a greater positive impact on the needs of citizens and communities.
During the briefing to overseers, Eryn Witcher Tillman, Bechtel Director of Media and Government Relations at Hoover, described the success of the Institution’s first State and Local Leadership Forum. Over two days in June, twenty-one senior staff members representing governors of both major political parties participated in roundtable discussions and exchanged ideas with the Hoover fellowship on a full spectrum of policy topics.
Update on George P. Shultz Building
In the final presentation of the briefing, Jeffrey M. Jones, the Hoover Institution’s associate director of facilities, operations, and events, provided an update on the construction of the George P. Shultz Building, which is set to open in early 2024.
Jones described the Shultz Building’s design and features. Aesthetically, its architecture will take its design cues from both the adjacent Hoover Tower and Traitel Building, so that all three buildings appear to be within the same family and are consistent with the Stanford University campus’s blend of Romanesque and Mission Revival architecture.
He explained that the building will house the oval-shaped Annenberg Conference Room, personally designed by Shultz and his preferred venue for meetings and seminars. It will also host space for more intimate events. In addition, the basement will house a new state-of-the-art digitization studio for the Library & Archives.
Jones illustrated how individual fellows’ offices will be staggered to reflect the interdisciplinary approach of the Hoover Institution. An economist, for example, may work adjacent to a foreign policy expert instead of another economist. Moreover, the interior architecture is designed to foster a more interactive environment. Interior staircases will be open, enabling fellows to be connected between floors. The history of Hoover scholarship will be told on the adjoining walls of the staircases, further conveying the sense of community within the fellowship.
Not My First Rodeo
The kick-off keynote event featured a dinner conversation between Condoleezza Rice and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, author of a new memoir about her life and political career, Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland.
In this wide-ranging discussion, Noem talked about her government’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed the importance of food and energy security—both of which, she argued, are sources of American strength but are being seriously undermined by national policies. Noem also touted tax reform initiatives in her state. South Dakota only assesses a 4.5 percent sales tax on its residents, a rate that has resulted in unprecedented growth of small businesses, low unemployment, and significant revenues, making it one of the only two states (the other is Wisconsin) where pension assets exceed liabilities.
The Hoover International Seminar
On July 13, National Security Visiting Fellow Nadia Schadlow presented on Hoover’s new International Seminar Program. Over a week in June, Schadlow and Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow H. R. McMaster welcomed to the Stanford campus twenty-five mid-career government and private-sector professionals from like-minded democracies in the European Union, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. These professionals engaged with Hoover experts on topics including the value of capitalism to their respective societies; the strengths and weaknesses of globalization; and the importance of establishing strong deterrents given current threats posed by Beijing and Moscow.
Modeled on the Harvard International Seminar founded in the 1950s by Dr. Henry Kissinger, a distinguished visiting fellow, the Hoover version of this program provided briefings to the participating professionals, who were assigned case studies on subjects related to climate policy and how to counter ambitions of authoritarian regimes who wield advanced technologies.
Presentations by Hoover Fellows
Overseers also listened to presentations from fellows and policy leaders on a full spectrum of foreign and domestic policy issues. Sessions included Robert Alexander Mercer Visiting Fellow Miles Maochun Yu on the shifting paradigm in US–China relations; Kleinheinz Fellow Tyler Goodspeed on the origins of the current inflation crisis; Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia Michael R. Auslin and Research Fellow Joe Felter on security in the Indo-Pacific region; Davies Family Senior Fellow, Emeritus, David Brady and senior fellows Douglas Rivers and Morris Fiorina on polling for the 2022 midterm elections; and a dinner conversation featuring Condoleezza Rice in conversation with H. R. McMaster on how the United States can reclaim its global leadership.
Honoring Thomas F. Stephenson
Following her conversation with McMaster, Rice took to the podium in Blount Hall to honor Ambassador Thomas F. Stephenson for his years of service on the Hoover Institution Board of oOerseers. Rice paid tribute to Stephenson’s passion for the Institution, where he has spearheaded, among other initiatives, the Shultz-Stephenson Task Force, which addresses the intersections between US energy policy and the economy, the environment, and national security. Per board rules, Stephenson will step down from the board for one year after five consecutive years of service. Overseer John Kleinheinz will succeed Stephenson as chair.
Newly Appointed Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin Discusses Consequences of Ukraine War
The final presentation of the board meeting was given by newly appointed Kleinheinz Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin, who described the current situation in Ukraine and its potential geopolitical consequences. Kotkin argued that despite the exemplary courage demonstrated by Ukrainians, the unfortunate reality is that they are not winning the war against Russia, because their territory has been captured by Kremlin forces. However, Kotkin sees the Kremlin’s victory as hollow. Like the Nazis who invaded Ukraine in 1941, the Russians will have difficulty governing that country and extracting valuable resources such as grain after it has wrought destruction. Although the current challenges seem daunting, Kotkin concluded that solidarity within NATO, Ukrainian courage, and democracies awakened to threats posed by authoritarian forces—Russia, China, and Iran—present an opportunity for the United States to rise to the occasion and advance a clear vision to secure peace, freedom, and prosperity in the world.
Stephen Kotkin’s appointment as Kleinheinz Senior Fellow will become effective on September 1, 2022.
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