History Alumnus Awarded Pulitzer Prize

In Brief: History

When graduate students in the History Department met with John Lewis Gaddis on March 6, they thought they were going to participate in a discussion with an eminent Cold War historian. They did not realize they were meeting with a soon-to-be Pulitzer Prize-winner.

Gaddis, the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University, received his doctorate from the History Department at The University of Texas in 1968. A renowned historian of the Cold War grand strategy, he has published numerous books, his most recent being “George F. Kennan: An American Life” (2011), which is an impressive treatment of the diplomat who articulated and promoted the Cold War strategy of containment in his famous “Long Telegram” and “X Article.”

After delivering a talk before a packed audience at Bass Concert Hall, Gaddis met privately with a select group of history graduate students, professors and several visiting committee members in Garrison Hall to discuss his new book and the historical profession in general.

PHOTO OF JOHN LEWIS GADDIS. PHOTO BY MIKE MARSHLAND, YALE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS