Melvyn P. Leffler
Edward Stettinius Professor of History Emeritus
Office Hours:
Field & Specialties
History of U.S. Foreign Relations
Education
B.S. Cornell 1966
Ph.D. Ohio State 1972
Publications
Safeguarding Democratic Captialism (Princeton University Press, 2017).
Peril: Facing National Security Challenges, co-edited with Will Hitchcock (e-book, University of Virginia Press, 2016)
Shaper Nations: Strategies for A Changing World, co-edited with Jeff Legro and Will Hitchcock (Harvard University Press, 2016).
In Uncertain Times: U.S. Foreign Policy After the Berlin Wall and 9/11, co-edited with Jeff Legro (Cornell University Press, 2011).
Cambridge History of the Cold War, 3 vols., co-edited with Odd Arne Westad (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
To Lead the World: American Strategy After the Bush Doctrine, co-edited with Jeff Legro (Oxford University Press, 2008).
For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (Hill & Wang, 2007).
- Winner of the George Louis Beer Prize, American Historical Association, 2008.
The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953 (Hill & Wang, 1994).
A Preponderance of Power: National Security, The Truman Administration, and the Cold War. Stanford University Press, 1992.
- Winner of the Bancroft, Hoover, and Ferrell Prizes, 1993.
The Elusive Quest: America's Pursuit of European Stability and French Security, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
Most Recent Articles and Essays:
"Trust but Clarify: George W. Bush's national security team was beset with rivalries," in Will Hitchcock and Melvyn Leffler, Peril: Facing National Security Challeges (e-book,University of Virginia Press,2016).
"National Security," in Frank Costigliola and Michael Hogan, eds., Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations, 3rd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
"Defense on a Diet," Foreign Affairs, Nov-Dec 2013, 65-76.
"The Foreign Policies of the George W. Bush Administration:Memoirs, History, Legacy," Diplomatic History, 37(April 2013): 1-27.
"Victory: The "State," the "West," and the Cold War," in Geir Lundestad, ed., International Relations Since the End of the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Current Research
I am currently beginning work on a book on George W. Bush and American foreign policy as well as continuing to write essays about the cold war, political economy, and national security.
Awards & Honors
Miegunyah Distinguished Fellowship, University of Melbourne, Fall 2015
UVA Thomas Jefferson Award for excellence in scholarship, 2014
Visiting Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Bologne, April-May 2014
Graebner Prize for career achievement and contributions, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2012
Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center, 2010-11.
Visiting Scholar, Christ College, Cambridge University, Fall 2007.
Randolph Jennings Fellow, United States Institute of Peace, 2004-2005.
Henry Kissinger Fellow, Library of Congress, 2004-2005.
Harmsworth Professor, University of Oxford, 2002-2003.
Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center, 2001-2002.
Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, 1997-2001.
President, Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations, 1994.
Fellowship, Norwegian Nobel Peace Institute, 1993, 1997, 2011.
American Council of Learned Societies, Fellowships, Grants-in-Aid, 1973, 1984-85.
Lehrman Institute Fellowship, 1984-85.