Seeking Monsters to Destroy: How America Goes to War featuring Jeffrey Engel
February 16, 2026
At our Presidents’ Day Luncheon, Jeff Engel explored how American leaders have defined and justified their enemies across history and how those evolving ideas continue to shape the nation’s wars, strategies, and public understanding of conflict.
About the Speaker
Jeffrey A. Engel is the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. A Senior Fellow of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, and graduate of Cornell University, he additionally studied at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, before serving as a John M. Olin Postdoctoral Fellow in International Security Studies at Yale University.
He has authored or edited thirteen books on American foreign policy and is a frequent contributor on international and political affairs for media such as CNN, NPR, CNBC, MSNBC and the BBC. His scholarly and popular articles have appeared in such journals as Diplomatic History; Diplomacy & Statecraft; Perspectives on History; Enterprise & Society; The American Interest; The Los Angeles Times; The International Journal; The Washington Post, the Dallas Morning News; the Houston Chronicle; USA Today; and The New York Times.