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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 Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and former U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Executive-in-Residence in Duke’s University’s Political Science Department and Distinguished Lecturing Fellow at the university’s Center for Politics John Hillen on what makes America exceptional in history and among all nations even today and how exposure to all its intricacies will help create the next generation of informed patriots. 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.

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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