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Podcasts | Civic Education

H.R. McMaster & John Hillen: Teaching Military History Reveals America’s Complexity and Character

August 24, 2026

On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff moderates a bracing and illuminating conversation with Lt. General H.R. McMaster, the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and former U.S. National Security Advisor, and Dr. John Hillen, Executive-in-Residence in Duke University’s Political Science Department and Distinguished Lecturing Fellow at the university’s Center for Politics. Our guests discuss American military history and strategic vision within the context of American self-governance and civilian control of the military. They emphasize that this understanding is the foundation of informed patriotism. Both are members of ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education and contributors to an upcoming volume of essays on what every college student should know about American history and government.

Note: Please check any quotations against the audio recording. A transcript is available upon request. The views expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of ACTA.

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