The Hoover Applied History Working Group hosted its virtual Winter 2026 Symposium on Thursday, February 12, 2026, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

The Symposium theme is “America and the World at 250.” As the United States begins to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, our intention is to review recent historiographical developments, revisit enduring debates, spark new ones, and relate them to contemporary world order and the crises facing America at home and abroad.

The Hoover Institution’s Global Policy and Strategy Initiative hosted a webinar to discuss Alternative U.S. Grand Strategies: Past, Present, Future on Tuesday, February 10, 2026.

In a new report for the Council on Foreign Relations, America Revived, Ambassador Blackwill argues that the United States faces the most dangerous international environment since World War II. He defines U.S. vital national interests, summarizes the history of American grand strategy, outlines and critiques five grand strategy schools (primacy, liberal internationalism, restraint, American nationalism, and Trumpism), and advances a new grand strategy—resolute global leadership. This approach merges the military power and global presence of primacy with the alliance networks, institutional engagement, and focus on legitimacy emphasized by liberal internationalism.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Ambassador Robert Blackwill is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He served as deputy national security advisor, presidential envoy to Iraq, and ambassador to India under President George W. Bush. Blackwill’s latest book, coauthored with Richard Fontaine, is Lost Decade: The U.S. Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. is Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he oversees both the Global Policy and Strategy Initiative and the George P. Shultz Energy Policy Working Group. He retired from a 39-year career with the US Navy in 2004. He has also served in the private and nonprofit sectors in areas of energy and nuclear security.

Philip Zelikow is the Botha-Chan Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. For 25 years he held a chaired professorship in history at the University of Virginia, where he also directed the nation's leading research center on the American presidency. For seven years before that, he was an associate professor at Harvard University.

The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country’s democracy delivers on its promise.

The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) held The Declaration of Independence: History, Meaning, and Modern Impact with Michael Auslin, Jonathan Gienapp and Jane Kamensky on February 4, 2026, from 10:00-11:00 a.m. PT.

As America observes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Hoover Institution’s Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) provided a renewed look at the origins and enduring influence of this defining national document. Expert speakers examined the Declaration’s cultural and physical history, its philosophical foundations and contested meanings, and its evolving role in shaping debates about rights, equality, and self-government. Participants gained insight into how the Declaration continues to inform national identity, animate civic discourse, and guide the ongoing effort to fulfill the promise of America’s democratic ideals.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Michael Auslin is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. A historian by training, Auslin is the author of the forthcoming National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America and The End of the Asian Century. He is a regular contributor to leading print and broadcast media and was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Library of Congress’s John W. Kluge Center.

Jonathan Gienapp is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a leading historian of the United States and its constitutional origins, with dual appointments in Stanford’s History Department and Law School. He is the author of two acclaimed books on American constitutional history and interpretation, and his scholarship on the Declaration and the nation’s founding informs lectures and public programs nationwide. A dedicated educator and award-winning teacher, he also works closely with institutions such as the National Constitution Center and the Brennan Center’s Historians Council to deepen public and legal understanding of constitutional issues. His public-facing writing, advisory work, and civics initiatives help connect historical insight to today’s constitutional debates.

Jane Kamensky is president and CEO of Monticello/The Thomas Jefferson Foundation and a leading historian of early America and the United States. She earned her BA and PhD in history from Yale University and spent thirty years as a professor and higher education leader, most recently as the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University and director of the Schlesinger Library at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Kamensky is the author or editor of numerous acclaimed works. Her award-winning A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley earned multiple major prizes, and she coedited The Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution with the late Edward G. Gray. Her latest book, Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A dedicated public historian, she has served on boards and advisory councils, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and More Perfect. Her work has been supported by NEH, Mellon, and Guggenheim fellowships, and she is an elected fellow of several distinguished historical societies. She also invites readers to explore Monticello’s vibrant online book club.