USAHEC Perspectives Lectures Series (Audio)

3 August 2017 - Mr. James M. Scott

The shocking Japanese attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii resulted in the devastating loss of more than two thousand Soldiers and citizens. Even as Americans reeled from the blow, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his military advisors were already planning a retaliatory counter-attack on Japan. In this lecture, Mr. James M. Scott uses themes from his latest publication, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor. Scott will shed new light on the details of Roosevelt’s counterattack and the brave airmen who risked everything to give their country hope in the coming world war.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

19 July 2017 - Mr. Peter Cozzens

No epoch in American history is more deeply shrouded in myth than the Indian Wars of the American West. According to author Peter Cozzens, the past 125 years of American popular history, academic scholarship, film, and fiction have depicted the era as a struggle between absolute good and evil, changing the roles of heroes and villains to accommodate the shifting national consciousness. In this lecture, Mr. Cozzens illuminates the wars and the U.S. Army’s role in the destruction of one culture enabling another to flourish, and examines the most pervasive and pernicious of the myths surrounding the Indian Wars. He also addresses the nature and limitations of the U.S. Army during the era of the Indian Wars, a period he believes represents the nadir of the American military establishment.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

17 June 2017 - Dr. Jennifer Murray, Dr. Jared Peatman, Mr. John Heiser

As the blood dried on the fields around the crossroads town of Gettysburg in early July 1863, the American people did not fully realize the impact of the Civil War’s largest battle on the future of the American consciousness. Those 72 hours may be the most well-known in Civil War history, but the following century and a half has seen the battleground itself shift in shape, function, and interpretation at the hands of scholars, government officials, and the U.S. Army. The “hallowed ground” remains the most tangible reminder of the sacrifices made by the Civil War generation. On Saturday, June 17, 2017, Dr. Jennifer Murray will led this roundtable lecture at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The lecture and roundtable discussion focused away from the battle itself, and toward the controversial, and often divisive, history and preservation of the fields and ridges those Soldiers died upon.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

17 May 2017 - Professor Brian McAllister Linn

By the late 1950s, the Cold War threatened every American with world-ending thermonuclear annihilation. To help stem the bone-chilling fear gripping the country in the wake of fears over Soviet aggression, the U.S. Army pushed a radically new method of warfare into the public consciousness. The Army claimed it could, and would, limit the atomic warfare to the battlefield by revolutionizing its equipment, organization, and training practices. The Army accented its effort by recruiting none other than Elvis Presley, demonstrating that even this icon of youth culture was not too cool to wear the Army’s uniform. Dr. Brian Linn traces the origins, evolution, and ultimate failure of the Army’s attempt to transform itself for atomic warfare, revealing its vital role in the making of Cold War America.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

May 4, 2017 - Mr. Walter Borneman, Author

Prior to the raid on Pearl Harbor, the career of Douglas MacArthur was unknown to most. By the end of 1942, however, General MacArthur was a national hero. In this lecture, Mr. Borneman will discuss the war from a MacArthur-centric point of view, paying particular attention to the myths and realities surrounding his method of command, his relationships with the President and other senior commanders, his work on developing combined operations, and the men he chose for his staff. MacArthur, and the war he fought, is brought to life, illustrating why Douglas MacArthur remains one of the most intriguing military leaders of the twentieth century.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

April 19, 2017 - Dr. Leonard Wong and Dr. Stephen Gerras

Every day, no matter the environment or specific duties, U.S. Army officers are bombarded with overwhelming demands for their units to accomplish tasks, and sometimes tasks are far beyond their capacity. In February 2015, Dr. Leonard Wong and Dr. Stephen Gerras published an extensive study outlining the deception occurring at all levels of the Army’s leadership in response to the pressure officers are placed under to report success in their unit, even when success does not necessarily exist. In response to their study, the authors offer solutions to change the culture in the Army and the military as a whole. In this lecture, the authors will outline the issue, offer solutions, and review the impact their 2015 study had on the U.S. Army in the two years since publication.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

March 18, 2017 - Dr. Conrad Crane

In the years following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the United States military grasped at the best way to engage in two wars, while remaining the world's super power. Dr. Conrad Crane, only recently retired from active duty service in the U.S. Army, found himself a modern Cassandra, warning the military leadership about the preparation requirements for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to conduct stability operations and counterinsurgency in Iraq. Dr. Crane’s continued push for proper planning in the eventual reconstruction of Iraq attracted the scrutiny of then-commander General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army (Retired). In this lecture and roundtable discussion, Dr. Crane and GEN Petreaus discuss the development of the formal response to the unpreparedness of American Forces: Field Manual 3-24/Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-33.5 Counterinsurgency. The presentation is complimented by questions and discussion from panelists Dr. Richard Lacquement, Colonel John Martin, U.S. Army (Retired), and Colonel Robert Balcavage, all of whom either served under GEN Petreaus and were implementers, or worked with Dr. Crane in development of the Counterinsurgency (COIN) manual. They discuss the implementation of the COIN doctrine, details about what went right and wrong in Iraq, and the lessons learned from over a decade of war.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

February 15, 2017 - Dr. Gene Kopelson

As Ronald Reagan traveled across the United States campaigning for the highest office in the land, the Governor of California possessed an ace in his hand unmatched by his opponents: the ear and advice of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s astute view of internal Washington politics, foreign affairs, military matters, and the swirling pool of primary rivals, provided his protégé the fuel he needed to learn, and eventually win, the war of words. Dr. Kopelson's lecture titled delves deep into the relationship between Reagan and his mentor and how it not only shaped Reagan’s future campaigns, but his presidency, as well.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

February 2, 2017 - Dr. Wayne E. Lee, Dowd Distinguished Professor of History, Chair of the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense, University of North Carolina

Dr. Lee discovered the topic of understanding reactions to death through studying artifacts while researching Continental Army Soldiers' reactions to a "Golgotha" - a field of skulls and bones - during their 1779 campaign against the Iroquois. When he set out to understand what such objects related to death might have meant to those Soldiers, he discovered a surprising variety of magical beliefs, spiritual connections, and even an ancient Latin curse skull. Although we all die, how we think about death and the afterlife has profound implications for the way we respond to violence and how we use violence ourselves. In his lecture, Dr. Lee will explore how those Soldiers responded to death with their own forms of violence, and also how objects related to death served as means of communication, motivation, and spiritual power in eighteenth-century North America.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/lectures.cfm (http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/lectures.cfm).

January 18, 2017 - Dr. Richard Harrison

 

In the spring of 1941, the Red Army high command sat poised to strike the German occupied Polish hinterland in a daring push to alter the course of the Second World War. Meanwhile, the German General Staff was likewise preparing for a blitzkrieg against the Russian western territories with the final prize of Moscow itself. The Russian commanders never carried out their plan to strike the Germans, however, and the German’s treacherous onslaught sprang forth first, resulting in the devastation of much of western Russia and contributing to the final defeat of the Nazi regime. The plan to invade Poland, though never carried out, offers fascinating insight into Soviet military thinking at the highest levels in response to a rapidly changing political-military situation.  This lecture examines the forces allotted for the preemptive attack, the route of their projected advance, and the interplay of personalities among the plan's authors and Stalin. Dr. Harrison concludes with a discussion of the strategy's utility and the lingering consequences of some of its component parts during the first weeks of the war.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/lectures.cfm (http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/lectures.cfm).