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Bruce Herschensohn Continues Weekly Roundtables on Foreign Policy in 2009-10 Academic Year

Bruce Herschensohn

While some college students look forward to prime-time television on Thursday evenings, many Pepperdine students look forward to Thursday evenings for the weekly U.S. foreign policy roundtables hosted by Bruce Herschensohn, senior fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy. Starting Sept. 10, Herschensohn will once again conduct weekly U.S. foreign policy roundtable discussions from 6 to 9 p.m. in classroom 175 of the Drescher Graduate Campus.  

The discussions will focus on current international events, and are free and open to all students and members of the community. This year, Herschensohn says he plans to explore "the Obama administration’s foreign policy, which touches the entire world." Topics will include North Korea’s ballistic missiles and nuclear tests; Iran’s ballistic missiles and nuclear policies; Iraq as the U.S. progressively leaves areas of combat; Afghanistan as an allied surge; the United Nations Organization’s 64th session; ballistic missile defense reductions in the U.S. budget; and changes in the foreign policy bureaucracy.

"Although these are not entirely new topics, they are topics that have certainly changed since the roundtables of last semester," he says, noting the relevance of the start date, Sept. 10, the day before the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy. "Certainly in terms of importance, the War against Global Terrorism remains the most prominent issue of our time."

Herschensohn has conducted these roundtables for the past two years, and aims to foster a collaborative, conversational tone. "The greatest benefit of the roundtables has been the unique participation of those who sit around the table, and their views of world events that have passed, that are current, and most important – looking ahead to the future," he says.

Advance sign-up is encouraged. Contact Marie Ann Thaler at (310) 506-7691. For more information about the U.S. foreign policy roundtables, visit the School of Public Policy Web site.

About Bruce Herschensohn

Bruce Herschensohn has been a television and radio political commentator for more than two decades. After service in the United States Air Force, he began his own motion picture company and was appointed director of motion pictures and television for the United States Information Agency (USIA). In 1969, he was selected as one of the 10 Outstanding Young Men in the Federal Government. He received the second highest civilian award, the Distinguished Service Medal, and then became deputy special assistant to President Nixon. He was appointed a member of the Reagan Transition Team and in 1992 was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in California. He was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University and a Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute. Herschensohn is the author of several books, the most recent being, Taiwan: The Threatened Democracy (2006) and Above Empyrean (2008).