WSB EXCLUSIVE SPEAKER
American Historian and Best-Selling Author; Presidential Historian, CNN; Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University
Monumental in his contribution to American culture, Douglas Brinkley takes the historical lessons of the past and applies them to the present and our future.
Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, the CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He works in many capacities in the world of public history, including on boards, museums, colleges and historical societies. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” The New-York Historical Society has chosen Brinkley their official U.S. Presidential Historian. His most recent book American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race was a New York Times bestseller. In addition Cronkite won the Sperber Prize while The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He has received a Grammy Award for Presidential Suite and seven honorary doctorates in American Studies. His two-volume annotated The Nixon Tapes recently won the Arthur S. Link – Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He is a member of the Century Association, Council of Foreign Relations and the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.
As Dr. Douglas Brinkley points out in his epic book Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, the history of corporations is often neglected. In this revealing presentation, Brinkley highlights the leaders who have constantly pushed for more – as well as the groups of ordinary and extraordinary people surrounding them – and who have, in turn, built America’s greatest companies. He compares his research about Henry Ford, who shaped the 20th century, to the challenges and opportunities faced by Jeff Bezos and other corporate leaders who will shape the 21st century.
Brinkley explores American exceptionalism through the lens of President Kennedy’s call to send humans to the moon, the subject of an upcoming book as well as a 2014 discussion with Neil Armstrong. He describes the motivations behind the moonshot, its impact on both business and government, and similar efforts across industries. Brinkley also offers insight into future opportunities to mobilize resources and motivate people to achieve the seemingly impossible.
As one of America’s leading presidential historians, Brinkley has written books on Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, CNN has called him “a man who knows more about the presidency than any human being alive.” Brinkley shares his extensive knowledge of the office of the presidency and the men who have filled it. He paints a rich portrait of the past, offers unparalleled insight into our present, and imparts lessons we should consider for the future.
Brinkley lived through the destruction of Hurricane Katrina with his fellow New Orleans residents. In his book The Great Deluge, he shares a complete account of the harrowing week following the flood. His official biography of Rosa Parks captures her personal dignity while conveying the power of her legacy. Brinkley shares highlights from these two amazing stories, provides historical context, and foretells the future of race relations in America.
At a time when the U.S. military is engaged in its longest, most demanding campaign, our armed forces are stretched thin, but soldier morale remains high. The ongoing commitment of the armed forces – despite the ebbs and flows of politics – is an extraordinary testament to leadership and organizational skill. Brinkley’s voluminous work on a far-reaching range of military campaigns makes him ideally suited to share incredible stories of leadership as well as a general assessment of today’s military and its future.
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