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250 Years of American Diplomacy

June 18 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Featuring Michael Brenes, Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale

Join us as we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with an all-American party and reflect on America’s place in the world after 250 years.

We’ll explore the pivotal decisions, influential leaders, and defining moments that propelled the nation onto the global stage.

How has diplomacy shaped America – and what does it mean for the road ahead? Join the celebration and RSVP today.

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Thursday, June 18, 2026 | 5:30-7:30pm
5:30pm Celebration | 6:30pm Discussion
World Affairs Council, Studio A, Hartford CT
Tickets$30 General Admission, $20 Members | No Charge for Students



Featuring

Michael Brenes is co-director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and lecturer in history at Yale University.

His research interests include United States foreign policy, political history, and political economy. He is the author of For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy, published by University of Massachusetts Press in 2020, and the co-editor (with Daniel Bessner) of Rethinking U.S. Power: Domestic Histories of U.S. Foreign Relations, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2024. His next book, co-authored with Van Jackson, is titled The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy, and will be published by Yale University Press in January 2025.

In addition to his academic articles and book chapters, his work has been published in The New York Times, The New Republic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico, Dissent, Boston Review, The Nation, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

He is currently writing a history of the War and Terror from the 1990s to the present, to be published by Grove/Atlantic. He is also finalizing a co-edited volume with Daniel Bessner on Cold War liberalism, which is under contract with Cambridge University Press.


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The World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person, online, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC, its individual staff, board members, members, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.

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