By Amber Kennedy
51鱨վ will host Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as the featured speaker for the Waldo Family Lecture Series on Oct. 12.
The former White House national security advisor will present “Regaining Strategic Competence: Empathy as the Foundation of Foreign Policy and National Security Strategy.” He will speak at 7 p.m. in the North Cafeteria of the Webb University Center on the Norfolk campus. The event is free and open to the public; .
“We are thrilled to have Lt. Gen. McMaster speak at 51鱨վ,” said Laura Delbrugge, dean of the University’s College of Arts and Letters. “Our students — and our community — will get to hear from someone with a wealth of knowledge and experience in foreign policy and national security. We have the Waldo family to thank for this rare opportunity.”
McMaster served as the 25th United States national security advisor from 2017 to 2018. He retired as a lieutenant general in June 2018 after a 34-year career as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. From 2014 to 2017, he directed the Army Capabilities Integration Center and was the deputy commanding general, futures, of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. As commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, he oversaw training and education for the army’s infantry, armor and cavalry force.
During wartime, McMaster commanded the Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force – Shafafiyat in Kabul, Afghanistan, from 2010 to 2012; the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq from 2005 to 2006; and Eagle Troop, Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in Operation Desert Storm from 1990 to 1991. McMaster also served overseas as advisor to the most senior commanders in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and a lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He is the host of “Battlegrounds: International Perspectives on Crucial Challenges and Opportunities” and a regular on “GoodFellows,” both produced by the Hoover Institution. He is a Distinguished University Fellow at Arizona State University.
McMaster holds a Ph.D. in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an assistant professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy. He is the author of the bestselling books “Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World,” and “Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam.”
The Waldo Family Lecture Series, established in 1985, was the first endowed lecture series at 51鱨վ. The Waldo family chose international relations as the theme because of the area’s significant military presence and proximity to an international port.
Speakers for the Waldo Family Lecture Series on International Relations are proposed by 51鱨վ’s Graduate Program in International Studies and chosen in consultation with the Waldo family.
A personal connection played a role in securing this year’s speaker. McMaster had served on a dissertation committee for an 51鱨վ International Studies graduate student attending from the U.S. military’s Joint Forces Staff College, located in Norfolk.
Regina Karp, director of International Studies programs at 51鱨վ, originally identified McMaster as a prime candidate for the series.
“Offering the opportunity to the local community to listen to a man of this caliber is really quite wonderful,” Karp said.
Since its inception, the Waldo Family Lecture Series has hosted renowned speakers in the fields of government, foreign affairs, journalism, education and public service. The Waldo Family Lecture Series honors the memory of Loren Pierce Waldo Jr., William Joseph Waldo, Robert Hendren Waldo, Susan Waldo O’Hara, Julia Ann Waldo Campbell and Harry Creekmur Waldo.