Grant is originally from Sarasota, Florida in the United States of America. He received his BA in History and American Studies cum laude from Princeton University, and an MSc in History of International Relations with Distinction from LSE. After his MSc, he worked as a communications consultant for Fortune 500 companies in Brooklyn, New York before returning to LSE to pursue his PhD in International History. Aside from his research, Grant is co-convener for the HY510 LSE-Sciences Po Research Seminar in Contemporary International History (Lent Term 2020 - present) and co-editor of the department's LSE International History Blog (since September 2020).

Provisional thesis title

Henry L. Stimson, the War Department, and the Politics of American Grand Strategy during the Second World War

My research focuses on Henry L. Stimson and his tenure as the American secretary of war during the Second World War. Stimson was considered one of the foremost American statesmen of his generation and the first half of the twentieth century, having served as secretary of war before the First World War, governor-general of the Philippines, and secretary of state before returning the Department of War in July 1940. Despite his impressive resume and important role in helping President Franklin D. Roosevelt lead the American war effort, he has largely disappeared from the historical record and has been relegated to the sidelines in the historiography of the Second World War. This research wants to examine in detail Stimson's role in the Allied war effort, analyzing his influence over Roosevelt; his contributions to top level decision-making, war mobilization, shifting public opinion toward supporting the war, and military strategy; how he shaped the politics of foreign policy, and his internationalist worldview and vision for the postwar world. This research will also investigate Stimson's influence over the group of American foreign policy elders known collectively as "The Wise Men," who worked for Stimson at the War Department and his leadership of the Manhattan Project, the American program to build the first atomic bombs.