GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics

How does a young Scotsman go from struggling actor and failed politician to internationally acclaimed (and knighted) historian? In a solo installment of GoodFellows, Sir Niall Ferguson, Hoover’s Milbank Family Senior Fellow, discusses his academic journey, fellow historians he admires, keys to successfully multi-tasking through life, plus how he and his spouse, Hoover Research Fellow Ayaan Hirsi A...

In contrast to the 20th-century bosses of industry who ran America’s big cities, New York City seems poised to elect an unabashed socialist with dreams of government-run bodegas, rent freezes, and wealth redistribution. Rick Caruso, noted Los Angeles real estate developer and possible political candidate in 2026, joins  GoodFellows  regulars and Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane,...

How does a promising young scholar go from dreams of designing glider planes to the study of physics and then on to a celebrated career as one of the world’s foremost monetary economists? In a “solo” installment of GoodFellows, John Cochrane—Hoover’s Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson senior fellow and coauthor of the newly released  Crisis Cycle: Challenges, Evolution, and Future of the Euro —discusses...

US forces launched bomb and missile strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, followed soon by an Iran-Israel ceasefire and the beginning of what could be a diplomatic realignment across the Middle East. The GoodFellows regulars and Hoover Senior Fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and former White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster discuss the collateral impact of the Trump admini...

Israel launches air attacks intended to destroy Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, Iran retaliates with missile strikes on Israeli cities, and the world waits to see what comes next – a return to the status quo, neighboring countries drawn into the conflict, or an end to the Iranian theocracy? GoodFellows regulars and Hoover senior fellows Sir Niall Ferguson and former White House...

Is China hell-bent on a move against Taiwan, or does its saber-rattling not square with a military capability that’s perhaps overestimated? Frank Dikötter, a Hoover senior fellow specializing in the history of modern China, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to discuss his reading of China’s desire and ability to project power, including its manuf...

America and China take a 90-day time-out in their dispute over tariffs; President Trump’s tour of the Middle East—the first overseas trip of his second term—raises unsettling questions about both his regional strategy and his family’s business dealings; and hostilities between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan raise questions of behind-the-scenes great-power machinations amidst “Cold War 2.” Hoover...

Harvard University and the Trump administration do battle over civil rights, funding, and tax status. Europe confronts unpleasant realities as it honors the 80th anniversary of VE Day. And the Pentagon contemplates how new weaponry and technology will change the future of warfare.  It’s all part of a special “bring your own topic” episode of GoodFellows, which also examines the recent White House...

Rejected by voters last November, the Democratic Party is perhaps afforded new life given President Trump’s decline in popularity and economic uncertainty ahead. What is the party’s message?  Rep. Ro Khanna, a prominent progressive voice whose California district includes parts of Silicon Valley, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss tariffs and th...

What are the economic and geopolitical effects of President Trump's imposition of tariffs on America's trading friends and foes? In an episode devoted solely to viewers' questions, Hoover senior fellows Sir Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster delve into the certain volatility (and uncertain logic) of Trump's tariff maneuvers, what the future holds for the European Union, inst...

Does America have a plan for winning the competition of the future—mastering artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and space, plus other material and developmental sciences? Amy Zegart, the Hoover Institution’s Morris Arnold and Nona Cox Senior Fellow and cochair of the  Stanford Emerging Technology Review (SETR) , explains how this one-of-a-kind partnership between the Hoover Institution and St...

US and Ukrainian officials will meet on March 12 to talk peace in Eastern Europe; a new US approach to China may or may not be in the works; and the Trump administration’s gas-brake approach to imposing tariffs on trade partners has a Hoover economist baffled.  Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and author of Seven Things You Can’t Say About China , joins Hoove...

A one-week window into the Trump administration’s worldview—the president blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion; his vice president taking to social media to accuse a Hoover scholar of “historical illiteracy”; the US then refusing to join other UN members in condemning Russian aggression—raises the question: Is the Trump brand of confusion and controversy mere happenstance or a calculated means to...

Three weeks into the nascent Trump presidency, the question of “power” arises: how the leader of the free world uses unique words, deeds, and threats to advance America’s interests globally, through a blend of grandiose promises (rebuilding Gaza), economic saber-rattling (tariffs on imported goods), and a “vibe shift” (woke bureaucracy under attack). Hoover Kleinheinz Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin...

A week into Donald Trump’s “second first term,” the GoodFellows drink from the proverbial fire hose trying to keep up with the news: a flurry of presidential executive orders; a freezing of US foreign aid; policy spats with multiple nations; at Davos, the world’s globalists contending with MAGA; a Chinese advancement in artificial intelligence that prompted a market selloff and evokes memories of...

Donald Trump’s “second first term”—an oddity of winning nonconsecutive presidential elections—begins with talk of dramatic policy shifts at home and abroad.  Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson and “Trump 45” veteran H.R. McMaster discuss the odds of a successful second Trump presidency; whether the man himself has changed; the most salient questions to ask Pentagon and State Department secretary...

An eventful election year concludes with the curtain soon to rise on a second Trump presidency and the possibility of dramatic changes to how Washington conducts itself. Kimberley Strassel , the Wall Street Journal’s “Potomac Watch” columnist, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster for a temperature check on Trump’s comeback: the odds of his ending lawfare and...

In a special “mailbag” episode, Hoover senior fellows Sir Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster answer audience questions ranging from current geopolitics quandaries and viable economic models to career and parenting advice, plus their personal choices of dream guests. Among the topics: a neglected African continent; Russia’s military and economic sustainability and related policy optio...

After a “change” election that returned Donald Trump to the presidency, what can Americans expect in the way of foreign policy and national security departures from the current administration? Former US secretary of state and CIA director Mike Pompeo joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss possible new directions for America’s national security appar...

Donald Trump will return to the Oval Office in a manner few saw coming – he won America’s popular vote; his coattails may lead to Republican control of Congress – while progressive institutions (legacy media, Hollywood, wokeism, and a tired Democratic playbook) take a beating. New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaste...

Imagine an alternate universe in which the American Revolution fails or where Russia rejects Leninism in its infant stage. Live from the Hoover Institution’s Fall Retreat, Lord Andrew Roberts, renowned historian and the Hoover Institution’s Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting Fellow, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss various histori...

Why has Israel repeatedly disregarded and gone the opposite way from the White House’s entreaties regarding the Middle East? And does the West fully fathom that Ukraine is losing its war of attrition with Russia? Walter Russell Mead, “Global View” columnist for the Wall Street Journal, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss the latest developments i...

Hot-wiring pagers and walkie-talkies to take out Hezbollah operatives: Was Israel’s tactic—like something from an Ian Fleming novel—a justifiable act of national security or a violation of international law? Victor Davis Hanson, the Hoover Institution’s Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow and a military historian and classicist, joins GoodFellows regulars John Cochrane and H.R. McMaster to dis...

What was it like to navigate America’s national security apparatus all the while coping with a mercurial commander-in-chief? Hoover senior fellow H.R. McMaster tells all in his new best-seller At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the White House – with additional insights provided by Hoover senior fellow Niall Ferguson, whose forthcoming biography of Henry Kissinger likewise will touch on nat...

In a topsy-turvy election year, does America’s 2024 presidential contest summon ghosts from 1968 — or, is a late-breaking 1980-style landslide in the cards? Historian Niall Ferguson, the Hoover Institution’s Milbank Family Senior Fellow, appears solo on this “mini” edition of GoodFellows (or is it GoodFellow?) to discuss the current political landscape, what roles an aging electorate and the “gend...