On Wednesday, April 10th and Thursday, April 11th, the Departments of Political Science and History hosted a visit to campus by Andrew Roberts. One of the world’s most famous historians, Roberts is a Visiting Professor at the War Studies Department of King’s College, London and the Lehrman Institute Distinguished Lecturer at the New York Historical Society. His thirteen books include Hitler and Churchill; A History of the English-speaking Peoples Since 1900; Masters and Commanders: How Roosevelt, Churchill, Alan Brooke and Marshall Won the War in the West; and now his single-volume biography, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, which reached No 8 in the New York Times bestseller list and which has been described in reviews in the Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times of London, and New York Times as the best single-volume life of Churchill ever written.
On Wednesday evening, Roberts spoke to over 250 students in Alkek Teaching Theater about the life, character and achievements of Winston Churchill. The next morning Roberts spoke to political science majors about the Second World War. Prior to his lecture, Roberts had dinner with students and faculty members from the two departments. President Trauth and Provost Gene Bourgeois joined the students and faculty for the dinner and lecture, as did former speaker of the Texas House, Tom Craddick, and his wife, Nadine.
Senior political science major Evan Olszewski described the lecture and dinner as “spectacular” and his “favorite event on campus so far.” Talking with Prof. Roberts at dinner was incredible because I got to see firsthand his enthusiasm for Churchill and the discoveries he made in his research. His presentation on Churchill was great and you could tell he had absolutely encyclopedic knowledge about the man as well as his political context from the stories he told. I was surprised to hear he was the first historian to be allowed to use King George VIII’s journals for his research and was especially glad he took my question about using them.” Likewise, senior William Manning observed that “Prof. Roberts was also a very easy and relaxed person to speak with personally. He took the time to inquire about my studies and interests.”
