Skip to main content
7May

The foreign policy of Donald Trump in historical perspective

Hosted by the Phelan US Centre
In-person and online public event (LSE campus, venue tbc to ticketholders)
Thursday 7 May 2026 6.30pm - 8pm

Commentators around the world draw some startling analogies when they seek to assess President Donald Trump, some even likening him to a Roman emperor or an inter-war dictator. In this lecture, Niall Ferguson puts Trump's foreign policy in an Anglo-American historical perspective.

Trump has cited William McKinley as a role-model, but a much closer resemblance is to Richard Nixon. In his policies towards both allies and adversaries, Trump owes a debt to Nixon, notably to the twin "shocks" of 1971 and the triangular diplomacy with Moscow and Beijing. However, the 2020s differ in many ways from the 1970s. There are clear risks to dusting down Nixon's playbook.

Meet our speaker and chair

Niall Ferguson is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is the author of 16 books; his latest is Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. He is an award-winning filmmaker, receiving an international Emmy for his PBS series The Ascent of Money. He is currently writing Kissinger, 1969-2023: The Player and serving as a visiting professor at LSE.

Peter Trubowitz (@ptrubowitz) is Professor of International Relations, and Director of the Phelan US Centre at LSE and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.

More about this event

Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

LSE's Phelan United States Centre (@LSE_US) is a hub for global expertise, analysis and commentary on America.

This event is part of the America's Changing Role in the World lecture series organised by the Phelan United States Centre, which is taking place over the 2025-26 academic year.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

Any questions?

If you have a query see our Events FAQ or take a look at the information below.

You can also contact us at events@lse.ac.uk.

From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.

LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.