Council’s Walter Russell Mead Named Henry A. Kissinger Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy

October 1, 2003 - Walter Russell Mead, a leading interpreter of the history of U.S. foreign policy and America?s role in the world, has been named the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, announced Council President Richard N. Haass. A Council senior fellow since 1997, Mead recently won the Lionel Gelber Prize, for Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World. The book examines American foreign policy over the past two centuries. “Walter was the obvious choice to be the next Kissinger Senior Fellow,” said Haass. “His thoughtful application of history and its lessons for today’s foreign policy challenges is in the best tradition of Henry Kissinger’s work and writing.”

Mead is currently working on a Council book on America’s grand strategy, Power, Terror, Peace, and War, that will be released next spring. He succeeds Charles G. Boyd as holder of the Kissinger Senior Fellowship. Boyd resigned the position to devote his full energy to his duties as President and Chief Executive Officer of Business Executives for National Security (BENS), a position he has held since May 2002. BENS, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a nationwide nonpartisan organization and the primary channel through which senior business executives can affect the national security institutions’ structures and processes.

The senior fellowship for U.S. foreign policy was established to honor Henry A. Kissinger, one of this country’s greatest thinkers and doers, for his distinguished contributions to the field of U.S. foreign policy. Kissinger, a Council member since 1956, is currently co-chairing the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force on Transatlantic Relations.