About the Program

The Kissinger Program establishes a non-partisan focus in the nation’s capital for the discussion of key issues in foreign affairs. The Program serves as a catalyst for the fresh analysis of foreign affairs in the global era by sustaining in perpetuity two appointments—the Kissinger Chair and the Kissinger Lecturer—and related programs that ensure that the subject of foreign affairs receives reflective and considered treatment each year in Washington, D.C.

Current Chair

Caitlin Talmadge

Most Recent Kissinger Chair (2022)

Caitlin Talmadge is Associate Professor of Security Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, as well as Senior Non-Resident Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and Research Affiliate in the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Talmadge’s research and teaching focus on deterrence and escalation, U.S. military operations and strategy, and security issues in Asia and the Persian Gulf. She is author or editor of numerous articles and three books, including the prize-winning volume “The Dictator’s Army: Battlefield Effectiveness in Authoritarian Regimes” (Cornell University Press, 2015). During her stay at the Kluge Center, she is writing a book on nuclear escalation risk in world politics. Dr. Talmadge's work has previously received funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the American Political Science Association, and the Stanton Foundation.

View past chairs

Kissinger Chair

The Kissinger Chair is appointed annually by the Librarian of Congress upon the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of representatives from the academic community and high-ranking foreign policy experts no longer in office. While in residence at the Library’s John W. Kluge Center, the Chair engages in research on foreign policy and international affairs that will lead to publication.

Kissinger Lecturer

The Kissinger Lecturer, who is distinct from the Kissinger Chair, is selected by the Librarian of Congress to deliver the biennial Kissinger Lecture, a high-profile address to congressional members and staff, diplomats, foreign policy experts, faculty from area universities, and the foreign policy community at-large.

The Setting

Uniquely situated for research, analysis, and serious discussion of America’s relation to the world, the Library of Congress offers facilities for scholars, universal collections spanning more than 470 languages, broad language and subject expertise of the Library staff, the central and neutral position of the Library on Capitol Hill, and the inspiring atmosphere of the magnificent Thomas Jefferson Building in which to examine the general subject of the United States and its relationship with the world.

Funding

The Kissinger Program is made possible by generous donations of the friends and admirers of Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, the 56th Secretary of State of the United States and a past recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced the establishment of the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress on June 26, 2000, during the Library’s Bicentennial year. The Library of Congress holds a collection of Henry A. Kissinger’s papers covering his years of government service and donated to the Library in 1977.

Nominations

Nominations are welcome for both the Kissinger Program appointments: the annual Kissinger Chair and the biennial Kissinger Lecturer. Nominations should be submitted via email to scholarly@loc.gov.