Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive Visits Vanderbilt
CLAS invited Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst for the National Security Archive, to Vanderbilt in November to discuss his work declassifying government documents. His area of focus is Latin America with a special emphasis on Chile and Cuba.
Kornbluh delivered a public lecture to a full house, “Saving the World from Armageddon: The Secret Diplomacy of the Cuban Missile Crisis.” He discussed the incorrect lessons learned from the crisis due to the secrecy of the Kennedy administration. According to Kornbluh, Kennedy was not a “resolute” president, but he was a “resolution” president.
LAS graduate students had the chance to sit down and talk to Kornbluh about his career in an informal meeting. Paula Covington and Bill Fowler invited him to speak in LAS 290 (Research Methods), where he discussed his work in obtaining declassified documents about Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, American citizens killed by the Chilean government during the 1973 Chilean coup. He also taught the students how to search for declassified documents in the National Security Archive and other government databases.
Posted on Thursday, April 4, 2013 in Newsletter, Spring 2013 Newsletter.