Advisor: Kent Germany

Pronouns: he/him/his

Education: MA in History, University of Chicago; BA in History and Political Science, International Relations, Tulane University

Fields: US History since 1789, Political History, Southern History

Historical Interests: Political History, Conservatism, Anti-Communism, American Foreign Policy, Labor History

Bio: I study the development of American politics and policy from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day. I am particularly interested in political realignment, political mythology, and the changing face of the “Solid South.” More broadly, I am interested in the history of American conservatism, particularly how perception of the Cold War informed and constructed ideology.

My master’s thesis, “Driving the Opening Wedge: The 1948 Anti-Lynching Bill and the Fracturing of the Solid South,” re-examined congressional support for civil rights reform and the consequences of Republican inaction through the committee speeches and reports on the ill-fated Wagner-Morse anti-lynching bill. My bachelor’s thesis, “The All-American: An Examination of the Political Career of Louisiana Congressman F. Edward Hébert,” was my first formal foray into archival research, which analyzed Hébert’s 36-year tenure to understand how a Southern conservative politician reacted to the expansion of civil rights in postwar America and how he advanced the idea of anti-communist, pro-war conservatism as the true form of Americanism.

Additionally, in 2024 I presented my work on South Carolinian conservatives during the Korean War (“From Dixiecrats to MacArthur Men”) as part of a foreign policy panel at the American Political History Conference. Most importantly, however, I am a die-hard New Orleanian.

Fields: US History since 1789, Public History, African American History

Historical Interests: Political History, Conservatism, Anti-Communism, American Foreign Policy, History of Race, History of Emotion