Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of Ted Widmer as senior fellow.
Over the coming year, Dr. Widmer will be writing about climate change and will also weigh in on global issues from a historical perspective. For example, see his October 6, 2015 New York Times op-ed, "The Immigration Dividend," which shows how President Johnson's immigration act, passed 50 years ago this month, has made the United States a more secure and prosperous nation over time. "Ted is a source of ideas and inspiration, connecting scholarship on American history to current events," says Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal. "His writings, lectures, and teaching on human rights, issues of war and peace, and global issues such as climate change are great examples of how scholarly work can be brought to the public."
Previously, Dr. Widmer was the director of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. From 2001 to 2006, he was the inaugural director of the C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College
From 1997 to 2001, he was a foreign policy speechwriter and senior adviser to President Clinton. Prior to that, he taught at Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D., AM and AB degrees.
His books include Disunion: Modern Historians Revisit and Reconsider the Civil War (2013); Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy (2012); Ark of the Liberties: America and the World (2008); Martin Van Buren (2005); Campaigns: A Century of Presidential Races (with Alan Brinkley, 2001); and Young America: The Flowering of Democracy in New York City (1999). He also edited the two volumes of American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton published by the Library of America (2006).
Dr. Widmer is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The New York Observer, Politico, The Boston Globe, and The American Scholar.
