Today, Condoleezza Rice joins the GoodFellows to consider the possible outcomes of tomorrow’s meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska; for Frontline Voices, Army veteran John Moses discusses his work supporting Afghan refugee communities in Massachusetts and beyond; and Richard Epstein critiques a recent federal court decision upholding the government’s power to compel pharmaceutical companies to provide drugs to Medicare at steep discounts.
Determining America’s Role in the World
What to expect from tomorrow’s Putin-Trump summit in Alaska? For a new episode of GoodFellows, Hoover Institution Director and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice—no stranger to engaging in statecraft with Russia’s enigmatic president—joins Niall Ferguson, John H. Cochrane, H.R. McMaster, and Bill Whalen for a spirited conversation about Vladimir Putin’s motives, how to characterize the present US-China competition, and the sensibility of the Trump administration’s threats to withhold federal research funds from leading universities in order to change campus cultures. Following that, Sir Niall recounts his recent sit-down with Argentine President Javier Milei, and tariff-agnostic John Cochrane assesses the state of the Trump administration’s ever-evolving trade policy strategy. Finally, the panelists discuss the recent 80th anniversary of the only wartime use of atomic weapons and the importance of its annual remembrance.
On August 13, Director Rice also joined Special Report with Bret Baier on the Fox News channel to discuss the state of the Russian economy, the possibility of a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, and Putin’s negotiating position.
Watch or listen to GoodFellows here.
Watch Condoleezza Rice on Fox News here.
In this episode of Frontline Voices, host “IRON” Mike Steadman sits down with John Moses, retired US Army sergeant first class, former Hoover veteran fellow, and cofounder of the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance. John shares his journey from a blue-collar upbringing in Lowell, Massachusetts, to serving in Afghanistan and ultimately helping evacuate 68 Afghans during the chaotic 2021 withdrawal. The episode covers the moral injury veterans felt watching the collapse, the shifting US public sentiment toward Afghan refugees, and how John is keeping the mission alive through community support and advocacy. His story is a testament to staying above the political fray, leading with compassion, and honoring the promises we made. Tune in for an inspiring and thought-provoking conversation. Watch or listen here.
Revitalizing American Institutions
Writing at the Civitas Outlook, Senior Fellow Richard A. Epstein criticizes the Trump administration for continuing a lawsuit against pharmaceutical firm Boehringer started under the Biden administration, concerning drug discounts required by the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. Epstein also critiques the reasoning underlying the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s decision holding that the program is constitutional. The price negotiation program was created by the Inflation Reduction Act and could require more than 90 percent discounts on drug prices for companies that “voluntarily agreed” to participate. Epstein writes that if conditions for imposing prices on drug manufacturers continue to loosen, “drug development will be impaired across the board because no one wants to develop the next blockbuster drug if the government takes away its gains by clever regulation.” Read more here.
Hoover Library & Archives
On August 6, 1945, Harold Agnew (1921–2013)—a young physicist with the Manhattan Project—and a small group of colleagues flew aboard The Great Artiste, the instrumentation aircraft that followed the Enola Gay on the first atomic strike mission. Acting as scientific observers, Agnew and colleagues monitored the mission and documented its progress. What was recorded is believed to be the only airborne footage of the bombing of Hiroshima. For the Nagasaki mission, cameras were provided to tail gunners aboard the plane to shoot footage of the explosion. Agnew donated his original materials to the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1980. Now available through the Library & Archives’ Digital Collections portal in higher resolution, this film serves as both vital scientific evidence and a profound visual testimony on the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Read more here.
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