GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution

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In uncertain times what’s needed is not just clarity about today’s pandemic, but insight into the challenges that lie ahead as America recovers and returns to normal. GoodFellows, a weekly Hoover Institution broadcast, features senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H.R. McMaster discussing the social, economic, and geostrategic ramifications of this changed world.

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Ukraine, China, And Gun Vio...

06.02.2022

As the Russia–Ukraine conflict approaches the 100-day mark, is any kind of resolution in sight? Condoleezza Rice, former US secretary of state and the Hoover Institution’s Tad and Dianne Taube Director, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, ...

GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution episodes:

06.02.2022 Ukraine, China, And Gun Violence, With Condoleezza Rice As the Russia–Ukraine conflict approaches the 100-day mark, is any kind of resolution in sight? Condoleezza Rice, former US secretary of state and the Hoover Institution’s Tad and Dianne Taube Director, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, ...
05.24.2022 War, Peace, and Politics with Victor Davis Hanson As the fighting in Ukraine continues, what’s the wisest strategy for the United States—keep sending weapons, help the Ukrainians broaden their operations, or advocate for a peaceful settlement? Victor Davis Hanson, the Hoover Institution’s Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow, ...
05.04.2022 “Ukraine Is Going To End Up Winning” As the war in Ukraine passes the 70-day mark, questions abound as to whether Russia will soon escalate the brutality, how far Ukrainian forces intend to take the fight, plus the West’s long-term appetite for supplying arms and aid. Lt. ...
04.27.2022 More Cowbell: BYOT (Bring Your Own Topic) A “potluck” edition of GoodFellows this time around, with Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane “bringing their own” topics for group discussion. These include an examination of an anticipated tank battle in Ukraine’s Donbas that’s ...
04.13.2022 Soft Landing: Larry Summers On Inflation, Debt, And A Looming Recession The GoodFellows return to economics this week, coinciding with news of America’s worst inflation in over 40 years. Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury secretary and Harvard University president emeritus, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John ...
04.05.2022 A Soviet Reunion: Michael McFaul On What Putin Wants The war continues in Ukraine while peace talks go forward in Istanbul – the outcome of both endeavors anyone’s guess. Michael McFaul, a Hoover senior fellow and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H.R. McMaster ...
03.23.2022 That’s What Xi (Jinping) Said This week, H .R. McMaster mans the moderator chair for Bill Whalen, and our guest is Matt Pottinger, the former deputy national security advisor and current distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. We cover President Biden’s call with Chinese ...
03.16.2022 Viewer Mail—Ukraine Edition This week’s episode is devoted to audience questions—viewers and listeners from over two dozen nations and five continents asking Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane for their thoughts on the war in Ukraine, America’s future ...
03.09.2022 Yes or No Fly Zone: Congressman Mike Gallagher on Ukraine Policy and Politics Have “false flags” given way to false hope in Ukraine? Despite the images of bold resistance, will Russian military setbacks eventually lead to a bad outcome for the citizens of that nation? Rep. Mike Gallagher, a member of the Armed ...
03.04.2022 Vlad the Impaled? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine produces a ripple effect across the globe militarily, diplomatically, and economically. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H.R. McMaster, and John Cochrane discuss a vaunted Russian war machine that’s seemingly slipped a cog, an altered geopolitical landscape, ...
02.28.2022 “One Pill Can Kill” Drug overdoses kill more Americans annually than vehicle crashes and gun deaths combined, with the intake of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl rampant across social and economic lines. Retired army major General Barrye Price, president and CEO of the Community ...
02.19.2022 Free-Speech Archipelago How to navigate the shoals of cancel culture when the p.c. mob comes your way? Bari Weiss, proprietor of the Common Sense newsletter and “Honestly” podcast, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane to discuss ...
02.02.2022 Black Swans & Pink Flamingos As opposed to the fictional exploits of James Bond and Jason Bourne, what are the realities of modern-day intelligence-gathering—and how does the US compete in a new age of cyber-espionage? Amy Zegart, the Hoover Institution’s Morris Arnold and Nona Jean ...
01.26.2022 Boris Bad Enough? Britain’s party-throwing prime minister may soon be thrown out of office; Ukraine and Russia are seemingly on the brink of an armed conflict that could throw the entire continent into tumult; and how to deter Russian aggression (other than sanctions)? ...
01.19.2022 Dodging Bullets—Real And Metaphorical As gun sales soar in pandemic-stricken America, the GoodFellows ask, Who’s entitled to possess a firearm? What restrictions should there be? And how would an international right “to keep and bear arms” affect the world order? Charles C. W. Cooke, ...
01.07.2022 Speaking Words of Wisdom The new year begins by opening the viewer mailbag. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane answer questions from viewers in more than 20 countries. They range from the likelihood of hostilities in Ukraine to academic ...
12.16.2021 The Roaring 2021 – And That’s It Inflation arrived, COVID stuck around in its various forms and the world became a lot more complicated in terms of nations edging to the brink of hostilities. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H.R. McMaster and John Cochrane ring out the ...
12.08.2021 Schmidt Happens A brighter future of better education and scientific breakthroughs? Or a dystopian future of technology-driven chaos? Eric Schmidt, former Google chairman and CEO and coauthor of the newly released The Age Of AI: And Our Human Future, joins Hoover senior ...
11.30.2021 The Glenn Show This week, distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of economics at Brown University Glenn Loury joins the GoodFellows to discuss the Rittenhouse verdict and the controversies about race, the media, and guns that arose from the trial ...
11.17.2021 Food for Thought Cryptocurrency’s future, fossil fuels and alternate energy sources, the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, a new university devoted to academic freedom emerging deep in the heart of Texas, plus ethnic food as the gateway to a better understanding of economics and ...
11.09.2021 Ejector Seat The latest on the pandemic front: kids ages 5–12 receiving vaccines and a federal deadline for private employers to comply with new vaccine rules set for January. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University School of Medicine professor, joins Hoover senior ...
11.01.2021 Meta Love Shack Live from the Hoover Institution’s Fall Retreat: Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane discussing think tanks’ role in today’s world, Washington’s absurdist tax proposals, Facebook’s rebrand, and China’s hypersonic missile test as a Sputnik-like wake-up ...
10.20.2021 “Fresh Soldiers” The late Colin Powell’s story is one of an immigrant’s son who rose to prominence based on a quality public-school education and enrollment in college ROTC. Hoover senior fellows H. R. McMaster, John Cochrane, and guest Caroline Hoxby discuss whether ...
10.16.2021 Big Three Summit The 60th episode of the series includes a first: the three “Good Fellows” mixing it up in person, in the same room, on the grounds of the Hoover Institution. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane ...
10.06.2021 Economists Rule? As Washington mulls trillions in “human infrastructure” spending and remains at an impasse over raising the federal debt ceiling, what are the economic consequences? Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson and John Cochrane are joined by economic historian Tyler Goodspeed, Hoover’s ...
09.29.2021 “Always Be An Autodidact” In this week’s episode, we dove into our mailbag of viewers’ letters. The end result: Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane answering questions ranging from the future of US-Sino relations, sovereign debt, vaccine stockpiling, and ...
09.23.2021 Stable . . . And Stagnant? Europe’s future includes a post-Merkel Germany, the fallout over the AUSUK technology deal, a shaky NATO alliance post-Afghanistan, Ukraine’s uncertain outlook, plus Russian control of natural gas supplies. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster and John Cochrane discuss ...
09.15.2021 As California Goes . . .? Pre-COVID, California governor Gavin Newsom touted his state’s policies as “America’s coming attractions.” Does that apply to the Golden State’s recall election—its overtones of vaccine mandates, abortion rights, and championing progressive ideals setting the stage for upcoming elections? Hoover senior ...
09.10.2021 Safer But Not Yet Safe The approaching twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the American homeland is a time to remember the fallen and reflect on lessons learned from that terrible day, including America’s readiness for a similar event. Condoleezza Rice, the Tad and ...
08.25.2021 Papier-Mâché Tiger America’s inability to adequately game-plan and execute a clean withdrawal from Afghanistan brings into question the foresight and competency of the nation’s political and foreign policy establishment. Hoover Institution senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane discuss ...
08.11.2021 Advance, Retreat, Resign America’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the onset of the Delta variant raise questions as to the success of the war on terror and the war on COVID-19. Hoover Institution senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane ...
06.29.2021 That 70s Show To the adage of repeating the past, does a stretch of inflation at home, the end of prolonged military involvement in a faraway land, and a president lamenting a nation in crisis suggest a return to the America of the ...
05.26.2021 Glenn Loury: “A Man Of The West” Does elite thinking about the Black experience in America, as expressed via the teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project, benefit the descendants of slavery? Glenn Loury, a Hoover Institution distinguished visiting fellow and Brown University economist who ...
05.19.2021 Gates’s Way to National Security It’s a complicated world—one in which an ascendant China threatens American concerns, fighting has recommenced in the Middle East, and the US government may not be suitably prepared for future cyberattacks. Robert Gates, secretary of defense in both the Obama ...
05.12.2021 Hoosier Daddy While many an American university has struggled with the pandemic and cancel culture, Indiana’s Purdue University seems the exception to the norm: a reopened campus with an ongoing commitment to civics literacy and intellectual diversity. Purdue’s president, former Indiana governor ...
05.05.2021 Doom Day! As it turns out, COVID-19 isn’t the first catastrophic event to plague mankind. Or so Niall Ferguson, the Hoover Institution’s Milbank Family Senior Fellow, reminds us in his new book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, a historical look at past ...
04.28.2021 Stirring the Melting Pot For decades, America has struggled to make sense of whom to allow legally into the nation, whether to create pathways to citizenship for those who have slipped across the border illegally, and how to maintain the ideal of a welcoming ...
04.21.2021 A New Chill in the Classroom What to make of elite universities with scant conservative representation in their faculty ranks; mankind’s tendency to dwell on the negative; plus the question of whether this is indeed the best time to be alive? Harvard cognitive psychologist and best-selling ...
04.14.2021 Question Time! In this week’s episode, we dove into our mailbag of viewers’ letters. The end result: Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane answering 15 questions on a variety of subjects: the threat of hostilities between China ...
04.07.2021 We’ll Always Have Paris Climate change no longer is a conversation confined to saving the planet; for the woke left, it’s a segue to “environmental justice and equitable economic opportunity,” in the words of Joe Biden’s campaign platform. Hoover visiting fellow Bjorn Lomborg, author ...
03.31.2021 The Great Awokening With Bari Weiss What does the future hold for the workplace and institutions of learning when diversity of thought prompts cancel-culture condemnation, ridicule, and ouster? Journalist, author, and Substack Common Sense writer Bari Weiss joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, ...
03.24.2021 From Boom to Doom On the eve of President Biden’s first press conference, Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane weigh in on what questions they’d ask the president—on economics, woke culture, Afghanistan withdrawal, and Taiwan tensions—if given the chance ...
03.17.2021 Where There’s A Will…. Prolific author and Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist George Will joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane to discuss America’s drift away from the Founding Fathers’ intentions, the failure of its two-party system, the future of taxation ...
03.10.2021 An American Empire—If You Can Keep It This fall marks the 20th anniversary of US forces entering Afghanistan and, this month, the 18th anniversary of the Iraq invasion. With the last 2,500 American troops scheduled to soon leave Afghanistan, Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, ...
03.05.2021 Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights How will Europe deal with a wave of violence against women perpetrated by male refugees from Islamic nations? How will America counter a “cancel culture” movement that seeks to stifle intellectual debate? Hoover research fellow Ayaan Hirsi Ali joins Hoover ...
02.24.2021 “The Place You Oughta Be”? California is home to the world’s fifth-largest economy—and a world of problems: businesses exiting, chronic homelessness, a dearth of affordable housing, devastating wildfires, maddening political correctness. Lee Ohanian, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and columnist for Hoover’s California on Your ...
02.17.2021 A “Post-American” Middle East? Will the Abraham Accords endure, the nations of the Middle East continue to evolve their economies, and rival factions avoid conflict? Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H.R. McMaster, and John Cochrane discuss the future of the region, including America’s involvement—or ...
02.10.2021 No Forward Passes As the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins, what’s the path forward for the Republican Party—distance itself from Trump and risk losing his fan base, or embrace Trump and further alienate suburbanites and college-educated voters? Peter Robinson, the Hoover ...
02.03.2021 Dark Lights, Big Cities? Are America’s and the world’s great cities forever changed by COVID-19’s side effects of distanced economies, population exoduses, and accelerated urban decay? Edward Glaeser, a Harvard University urban economist, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John ...
01.27.2021 No Hugging, No Kissing As California struggles to administer COVID vaccines in a timely manner, questions arise as to what demographic should go first and how the nation can better prepare for similar crises. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor of medicine whose ...

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