Today, journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin joins the GoodFellows to discuss his new book on the stock market crash of 1929 and the lessons that history might offer us today; H.R. McMaster speaks with former Mossad intelligence head Zohar Palti about the prospects for peace in the Middle East; and Joseph Ledford, together with coauthor Jesse Weinberg, shows how Israel can help the United States advance American security interests in the Western hemisphere.
Revitalizing American Institutions
Nearly a century ago, after years of investors on a champagne high and warning signs ignored, a stock market crash led to a descent into a global depression. Andrew Ross Sorkin, a New York Times financial journalist and author of the bestseller 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation, joins Senior Fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss how the events of 1929 resonate to this day, what’s misunderstood about the fabled crash, whether Herbert Hoover (only seven months into his presidency when disaster struck) gets a fair shake, and what the future holds for Federal Reserve independence. The group also discusses the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. and Wall Street’s relationship with Washington. After that: The three GoodFellows look back on 2025 with their choices for individual of the year, the most significant or ignored stories, and what they learned in 2025. Watch or listen here.
The Middle East
On the latest episode of Today’s Battlegrounds, Distinguished Visiting Fellow Zohar Palti joins Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster to discuss Israel’s security posture after the October 7 attacks. Palti evaluates the strategic lessons of the war in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, and beyond, and considers the implications of the war and the Trump-brokered peace agreement for Israel, the broader Middle East, and global security. As a former senior Israeli defense official and head of the Mossad Intelligence Directorate, Palti brings to the conversation a wealth of expertise, insight, and hands-on experience in Middle East security issues. Watch or listen here.
US Foreign Policy
In a new essay for The Caravan Notebook, Hoover Fellow Joseph Ledford and coauthor Jesse Weinberg argue that as the Trump administration pivots its foreign policy to the Americas and emphasizes hemispheric defense, the United States should engage Israel as its partner of first strategic choice to achieve a free, prosperous, and stable Western Hemisphere. Ledford and Weinberg review Israel’s foreign and security policy involvement with Western Hemisphere nations, and chart opportunities in the region for deepened collaboration with the United States. “Proven on the battlefield and in the marketplace, Israel’s capabilities can amplify America’s regional presence,” they argue. The authors conclude that the US has a historic opportunity to “utilize Israeli intelligence as well as technological and scientific capabilities to complement American power, advance American interests, and support America’s neighbors.” Read more here.
Confronting and Competing with China
In a new Policy in Brief video, Hoover Fellow Eyck Freymann explains how China’s dominance in critical minerals allows Beijing to manipulate supply, shift prices, and coerce foreign industries, forcing factory shutdowns and undercutting global resilience. Private companies cannot build reliable alternatives under the constant threat of price shocks or supply cutoffs. As Freymann explains, the proposed Multilateral Commercial Stockpile offers a coordinated, market-based system that buffers against both scarcity and oversupply, strengthens allied security, and prevents a repeat of past policy failures. Watch here.
Reforming K-12 Education
A West Texas school district that experienced a measles outbreak saw school absences climb by 41 percent and remain high for months afterward, demonstrating immense educational impact of preventable illnesses on communities with low rates of immunization, new research by Senior Fellow Thomas Dee shows. In January 2025, the community of Gaines County, Texas, saw its first confirmed measles infections as a part of a wave of measles outbreaks across the nation. Comparing the attendance data from the largest school system in that county, the Seminole Independent School District, with data from the same period in the previous two school years, Dee and Wilson found 41 percent more absences in 2025 compared with prior years. Among pre-K and kindergarten students, absences were 71 percent higher in 2025. Among high school students, absences were 25 percent higher. Dee’s work is cited prominently in an article by the Associated Press released on Wednesday. Read more here.
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