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

Vali Nasr

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. He served as the eighth Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS between 2012 and 2019 and served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011. Nasr is the author of “The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat” (Doubleday, 2013); “Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World” (Free Press, 2009); “The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future” (W.W. Norton, 2007); “Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty" (with Ali Gheissari, Oxford University Press, 2006); "Islamic Leviathan, Islam and the Making of State Power” (Oxford University Press, 2001); “Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism” (Oxford University Press, 1996); “Vanguard of Islamic Revolution: Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan” (University of California Press, 1994); and numerous articles in scholarly journals. Most recently, he co-authored “How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare” (with Narges Bajoghli, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, and Ali Vaez, Stanford University Press, 2024). He has advised senior American policymakers, world leaders, and businesses, including the President, Secretary of State, senior members of the Congress, and presidential campaigns. He has written for New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others. Nasr serves as the co-director of the SAIS Rethinking Iran Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, the leading hub for fostering a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of contemporary Iran and its regional influence within academia and the public sphere. He has been the recipient of grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, and was named a 2006 Carnegie Scholar.

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.