Catastrophic Diplomacy: U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century

The Clements Center and Department of History will host Julia Irwin, T. Harry Williams Professor of History at Louisiana State University for a talk on “Catastrophic Diplomacy: U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century.”

In this talk, Julia Irwin will discuss the history and politics of U.S. foreign disaster assistance during the 20th century. She will discuss how the U.S. government, military, and American NGOs have historically responded to major natural disasters abroad, and the diplomatic, strategic, and moral motivations that guided those efforts. She will also recount the histories of several major humanitarian operations during the early Cold War era, illustrating these themes and arguments in vivid detail.