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How to Impact Change While Following Orders 10/22


“The country needs — and, unless I mistake its temper — the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”
—FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

About the Chat: 

FDR’s quote above was a call to the American people to support systematic change to combat the Great Depression, but his words can be applied to leadership at every level in many situations. He challenged people to take action when the path forward was not clear. Meeting this challenge is  important in the military, in government, in start-ups, and the rest of the professional world.  

One aspect of organizations that make meeting FDR’s challenge difficult is a consistent institutional dilemma: How does one lead, while following? How do you influence change, and conduct the experimentation FDR demanded while executing the strategic direction outlined by your boss, your company’s board, or your commanding officer? 

Come hear Commander Jason Wells, US Naval Flight Officer, discuss stories and lessons about the challenges that accompany leading and following as a member of a mission driven organization, such as the United States Navy. 

About the Speaker:

Commander Jason Wells is a Naval Flight Officer who was recently the Aviation Officer Community Manager at the Bureau of Naval Personnel, responsible for the personnel policies governing Aviation force structure.  Previously, he commanded Special Projects Patrol Squadron Two, flying in Iraq during Operation Inherent Resolve, as well as in other operations throughout Africa and the Pacific.  He also served as the Operations Officer of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One, conducting Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance operations worldwide and flew in the NATO campaign over Libya during Operation Unified Protector. Has authored two DoD Electronic Warfare Assessments characterizing the strengths and weaknesses of Service capabilities throughout the electromagnetic spectrum.  Jason holds a master’s degree in international business from the University of Maryland, where he studied in Shanghai, and postgraduate research in Space Systems and Computer Science from the Naval Post Graduate School.  His research interests include strategic decision-making, force structure implications on strategy development, and mechanisms to characterize the constraints on national security and national defense strategies.

Tuesday, 10/22 7 PM FDR Suite SIGN UP required 

Reservations available starting 1 a.m. on Monday 10/14 

 


Predicting Natural Weather Disasters Before They Happen 10/14


Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency was defined by his reactions to crises in the United States and abroad such as the Dust Bowl which devastated the American West. Through projects such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, FDR displayed dedication to the environmental well-being of America and the world.

Come hear Charles Lin discuss current environmental efforts and hear about his experience with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the air quality monitoring over the Alberta oil sands region, Canada’s participation in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the implications of climate change on disaster modeling and subsequent disaster response.

About the Speaker: Charles Lin is an environmental scientist who served as the director general of the atmospheric science and technology directorate within Environment & Climate Change Canada, a Canadian federal government department researching and monitoring weather, climate, and air quality. Mr. Lin also spent 20 years at McGill University in teaching and research positions, including heading McGill’s Environmental and Climate Change Centre.

Monday, 10/14 7 PM FDR Suite SIGN UP required

 


Information and Influence in Sweden


Sweden is overhauling their approach to national defense, greatly expanding military budgets, restoring conscription, and hardening defenses.

Part of the increasing pressure on Sweden comes in the form of insidious information campaigns, some originating within the country, some coming from right-wing political groups beyond Sweden’s borders, and some sponsored by antagonistic states.

Since 2016, the FDR Foundation has been honored to periodically work with the Swedish government on countering disinformation campaigns. Now we’re taking the work from Harvard to Stockholm, where four professors will work directly with Swedish decision makers and practitioners in November, 2019. We look forward to both being of assistance and to bringing our findings back to Harvard for further research


Roosevelt, Churchill And The Creation Of The United Nations


By: David Carlin

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945, left) with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) at the White House, Washington DC, December 1941. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) GETTY IMAGES

Today opens the 74th UN General Assembly. For many New Yorkers, mentioning the General Assembly evokes images of a Manhattan traffic apocalypse. Traffic notwithstanding, the United Nations reflects the remarkable vision of two great leaders: Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.  

It was December 1941. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, America had entered WWII and immediately experienced a series of setbacks in the Pacific. The war in Europe and Africa was going nearly poorly too. Nazi troops were on the outskirts of Moscow and British forces faced losses in Libya. Amid this gloom, Churchill arrived at the White House. He and Roosevelt met extensivelyon the military situation and Anglo-American cooperation. Several months prior, the two had issued the Atlantic Charter. When the war’s outcome remained uncertain, this landmark document dared to imagine a free and peaceful future. The charter asserted the rights of self-government as well as economic and social freedom for all. It also laid the groundwork for international collaboration on a variety of topics from trade to defense.

Now, Churchill and Roosevelt sought to formalize their war aims and clarify the relationship between the numerous allied nations. Yet, they struggled to find a suitable name for their coalition. The name came to the president in a flash of inspiration. He raced to Churchill’s bedroom and announced: “the United Nations!” Roosevelt quickly realized that his guest was stark naked and begged his pardon. Churchill allegedly replied: “the prime minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the president of the United States!”

Tall tale or not, both men were unswervingly committed to building a better world from the ashes of WWII. On New Year’s Day 1942, Roosevelt and Churchill…

Read more at:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidcarlin/2019/09/17/roosevelt-churchill-and-the-creation-of-the-united-nations/


Jean Edward Smith, biographer who reassessed presidential reputations, dies at 86


September 14, 2019 at 8:55 p.m. EDT

Jean Edward Smith. (Christine Smith)

Jean Edward Smith, a scholar who was one of the most admired biographers of his time, the author of smoothly written accounts of several presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, that became prizewinning bestsellers, died Sept. 1 at his home in Huntington, W.Va. He was 86.

He had complications from Parkinson’s disease, said his wife, Christine Smith.

Dr. Smith, a Washington-born political scientist who spent seven years as an Army officer, was a faculty member at the University of Toronto for many years and later taught at Marshall University in West Virginia. His first books were on German politics, but beginning in the 1990s, he became a prolific chronicler of the lives of major figures in U.S. history, and was praised by historians and everyday readers alike.

In 2012, Columbia University historian Henry F. Graff called Dr. Smith “indubitably America’s most distinguished biographer.”

His 2001 study of Grant, the Civil War general who later served two terms as president, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and helped raise scholars’ estimation of Grant’s effectiveness as president.

Grant was a failure in business — “He was too…

Read more at:

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jean-edward-smith-biographer-who-reassessed-presidential-history-dies-at-86/2019/09/14/fe7d1f68-d716-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html

 

War Comes to Warsaw: September 1939


BY RAY WALSER

Staff members drape a large American flag over the roof of the embassy in Warsaw in anticipation of German air attacks. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum / Julien Bryan Archive

U.S. Consulate General Warsaw on Sept. 1, 1939. U.S. Library of Congress

Warsaw, Sept. 1, 1939, 5:30 a.m. The shriek of air raid sirens awakens Ambassador Anthony “Tony” J. Drexel Biddle Jr. Troubled by heightened German-Polish tensions, Adolf Hitler’s demands for territorial rectifications and the recent mobilization of the Polish Army, Biddle calls the duty officer at the Polish Foreign Ministry.

Is this an attack? The answer: Yes, there are numerous reports of German incursions onto Polish soil. Electing to telephone rather than cable flash news, Biddle manages to reach Ambassador William C. Bullitt in Paris. Bullitt, in turn, places a trans-Atlantic call.

2:55 a.m., Washington time. A sleeping President Franklin Roosevelt awakens to Bullitt’s call. After weeks of tension, a war of nerves is now a shooting war. The president alerts Secretary of State Cordell Hull and other senior officials. In the pre-dawn hours, lights suddenly begin to burn at the State Department. Twenty years after the peace settlement of Versailles, Europe again plunges into general war.

The German attack does not catch Ambassador Biddle or the department entirely by surprise. In March 1939 the department had…

Read more at:

https://www.afsa.org/war-comes-warsaw-september-1939







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