Aaron O'Connell Office: Garrison Hall 3.224 v aaron.oconnell@austin.utexas.edu
Education
2010 Ph.D. in History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 2003 M.A. in American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 2002 M.A. in English, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 1995 B.A. in American Studies, Trinity College, Hartford CT
Employment
Academic
2017-Present: Associate Professor of History, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
2013 to 2016: Associate Professor of History, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.
2008-2013: Assistant Professor of History, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.
Areas of Expertise
My scholarly interests span four inter-related fields: Military history, cultural history, U.S. foreign affairs, and American politics. My scholarly publications focus on understanding the effects of the U.S. military on American society, U.S. foreign policy, and the world in the 20th century. My public history pieces mostly concern how military narratives and infrastructure affect contemporary domestic and political culture. I teach courses in military history, U.S. foreign policy, U.S. military culture, and the history of counterinsurgency.
Scholarship
Books
Underdogs: The Making of the Modern Marine Corps (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012).
Edited Collections
Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan (Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 2017).
Book Chapters
“The Global Wars on Terror” in Max Paul Friedman et al., eds., The Cambridge History of America in the World, Vol 4, 1945-2020 (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming: 2021)
“Defending Imperial Interests in Asia and the Caribbean, 1898-1941,” in James C. Bradford, Ed., America, Seapower, and the World (New York: Wiley Blackwell, 2016).
“The Lessons and Legacies of the War in Afghanistan,” in Beth Bailey and Richard Immerman, eds., Understanding the U.S. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (New York University Press, 2015).
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“An Accidental Empire? President Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the Cold War American Empire,” in Michael J. Hogan and Mary Ann Heiss, eds., The National Security Establishment and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman (Independence, MO: Truman State University Press, 2015).
Scholarship (continued)
Scholarly Articles
“No, Afghanistan is not Vietnam all over Again,” Modern American History (forthcoming: 2021).
“A Harsh and Spiritual Unity: A New Look at Culture and Battle in the Marine Corps’ Pacific War,” International Journal of Naval History, Volume 7, number 3, December 2008.
“Saving Private Lynch: A Hyperreal Hero in an Age of Postmodern Warfare,” War Literature and the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities, Fall, 2005.
Public History and Media Appearances
OpEds and Public History
“What will be the Fate of Trump’s Afghan Campaign?” War on the Rocks, January 18, 2019
“Petraeus at SHAFR: A Different Kind of Diversity Problem?,” Passport: The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Review: September 2018, 30-32.
“Mission Inscrutable: Just what is the U.S. Military Trying to Accomplish in Niger?,” Slate, October 25th, 2017.
“Why We Aren’t Winning in Afghanistan,” Washington Post, August 10, 2017.
“A Flawed Plan for Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs, Jun 16th, 2017.
“Bring Back Military History,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 28th, 2016.
“Why these Marines Love ‘Frozen’ and why it Matters,” The Daily Beast, June 27, 2014.
“Gun Culture in the Red Dawn Films,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 11, 2013.
“The Permanent Militarization of America,” The New York Times, November 5, 2012.
Television
Ø C-SPAN, “The Idea of the Deep State in American History,” June 21, 2019. Ø PBS, The News Hour Weekend with Hari Sreenivasan, Afghanistan, August 12, 2017 Ø C-SPAN, American History TV, “President Truman and National Security,” May 2013 Ø C-SPAN, Lectures in American History, “Marines in the Banana Wars,” March 2013 Ø FoxNews’ “Happening Now,” January 11, 2013 Ø C-SPAN, Book TV, “Underdogs: The Making of the Modern Marine Corps,” November 6, 2012
Nationally-Syndicated Radio
Ø NPR, All Things Considered, “Russian Sought Bounties on US troops,” June 29, 2020 2
Ø NPR, Morning Edition, “Negotiators Are Closing In On A Deal With The Taliban,” August 27, 2019. Ø BBC World Service, “What Will Happen to Afghan Women, if the US Leaves,” February 1, 2019 Ø NPR, On Point Radio, “A History of Western Engagement in Afghanistan,” January 7, 2019. Ø NPR, All Things Considered, “What’s Changed in Afghanistan?,” August 21st, 2018 Ø NPR, All Things Considered, “Fact Check: Trump’s Claims on NATO Spending,” July 11, 2018 Ø PRI, The World, “Gun Culture and the AR-15,” March 6, 2018 Ø NPR, Morning Edition, “Veterans are Divided on Trump’s Military Parade,” February 7, 2018 Ø NPR, On Point, “Afghanistan,” September 29, 2017 Ø NPR, Morning Edition, “Afghanistan,” August 21, 2017 Ø NPR, Morning Edition, “Historian Says U.S. Losing Hearts & Minds in Afghanistan,” April 2017 Ø NPR, WBUR (Boston) “On Point with Tom Ashbrook,” April 24, 2017
Podcasts
Ø “The Future Role of the Marines,” (with General Bob Neller), Horns of a Dilemma, January 10, 2020 Ø “A History of the National Security Council (with John Gans et al.) Horns of Dilemma, Oct. 11, 2020 Ø “The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order,” Horns of a Dilemma, March 15, 2019. Ø “Corruption, Rule of Law and Legitimacy in War Zones,” Bribe, Swindle, or Steal, May 9, 2018 Ø “The Military and Democracy,” This is Democracy, October 4, 2018 Ø “Vietnam’s Indelible Legacy,” Horns of a Dilemma, September 21, 2018
Local Radio
Ø KUT (Austin) Texas Standard, “Airstrikes Are Only Part Of Iran’s Strategy,” January 8, 2020 Ø NPR, WCRW (Los Angeles) “Afghanistan,” December 9th 2019 Ø NPR, WKUT, “The Afghanistan Peace Process,” Texas Standard, September 2nd, 2019 Ø NPR, WAMU, “How Will America’s Longest War End?,” August 20, 2017 Ø NPR, KPCC (Los Angeles), “Air Talk with Larry Mantle,” August 10, 2017 Ø NPR, WKJZ Radio (Phoenix), “Can the U.S. Fight Simultaneous Wars?,” May 2017 Ø All-Marine Radio, Interview on Marine Corps History, August 2016 Ø NPR, WAMU (Washington DC), The Kojo Nnamdi Show, January 14, 2013 Ø WCCO (Minneapolis) January 17, 2013. Ø WUSB (90.3 FM), November 12, 2012, NYC, NY. Ø KHOW (650 AM), November 12, 2012, Denver, CO. Ø KENI (630 AM), November 13, 2012, Anchorage, AL.
Prizes and Awards
2019 Texas Blazers’ Pillar Award for Service to the University 2015 Named the Admiral Jay Johnson Professor for Leadership and Ethics, USNA ($15,000 prize) 2014 Underdogs named as one of 2013’s “Outstanding Academic Titles” by the ALA’s Choice Magazine 2009 Distinguished Dissertation in American History Prize, Yale University History Department 2002 Virginia Lafollete Gunderson award for best graduate student essay, Indiana U. Bloomington, IN.
Book Reviews
Review of Gregory A. Daddis, Withdrawal: Re-Assessing America's Final Years in Vietnam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017) in Marine Corps History (forthcoming 2021)
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Review of Grant Madsen, Sovereign Soldiers: How the U.S. Military Transformed the Global Economy (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), in Passport: The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Review: (January 2019).
Review of Jeremy Friedman, Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World (UNC Press, 2015) in Marine Corps History, Vol. 4 no. 1 (2018)
Review of Brooke L. Blower, “A Nation of Outposts: Forts, Factories, Bases, and the Making of American Power,” in H-Diplo, review no. 756, April 5, 2018.
Review of Paul D. Miller, American Power and Liberal Order: A Conservative Grand Strategy (Georgetown University Press, 2016), Marine Corps University Journal Vol. 8, no. 2 (2017).
Review of Mary Louise Roberts, What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France, Journal of American History (featured review), June 2016.
Review of Stacey Peebles, Welcome to the Suck: Narrating the American Soldier’s Experience in Iraq. Journal of American Studies (UK), July 2013.
Review of Brian Glyn Williams, Afghanistan Declassified, A Guide to America’s Longest War. Journal of Military History, November 2012.
Review of Beth Bailey, America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force. Parameters, Spring 2011.
Review of Stephen S. Evans, U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and Selected Bibliography. Journal of Military History, July 2009.
Commissioned Talks & Invited Presentations
“U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine and the Trump Impeachment Trial,” UT Law School Conference on The Politics of Impeachment, January 24, 2020
“The Global War on Terror,” LAAMP Presentation, UT Austin, Nov 5, 2019
“The Global War on Terror: An Initial History,” University of Connecticut History Department, Nov 1, 2019
“Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts & Minds in Afghanistan,” Austin Community College History Symposium, October 17, 2019
“Afghanistan,” Austin Forum on Statecraft and Diplomacy, LBJ School, January 17, 2019.
“Our Latest Longest War: Afghanistan, American Exceptionalism, and the Future of Military History, Texas A&M University, March 24, 2018.
“Deja Vue All Over Again? Vietnam, Afghanistan, and the Search for Lessons in History,” Applied History Conference, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, March 2, 2018.
“Moving the Mountains: Culture and Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan,” Yale University, International Security Studies Public Lecture, September 10th, 2015.
“The United States Marine Corps in America and in the World,” University of Maryland’s Miller Center Annual Lecture in Public Policy, March 28, 2013. 4
“The Militarization of America,” roundtable held at Temple University’s Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy (CENFAD), Philadelphia, PA, March 2013.
“Eisenhower and the Military Industrial Complex,” Roundtable on Eisenhower and the Lessons of Leadership at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, January 15, 2013, Washington DC.
“The War in Afghanistan: Cultural Friction and Strategic Options,” commissioned lecture for the George Washington University American Studies Department, Washington DC, April 2012.
“Marine Corps Culture and the Networks of Military Power,” Public lecture at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York, November, 2012.
“The United States Marine Corps and Veterans in America,” Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington DC, November 11, 2012.
“The United States Marine Corps and the Militarization of America,” Temple University’s Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy, Philadelphia, PA, November, 2012.
“The Marines Island-Hopping Campaign of World War II,” commissioned lecture for the Smithsonian Associates’ Program, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, Spring 2009
Recent Scholarly Papers and Conference Presentations
2020 “Is Afghanistan the Nation’s Longest War? Not Yet,” The Presidency & Endless Wars Conference, The Miller Center of Public Affairs, the University of Virginia, October 1, 2020 (delayed due to COVID).
“Reflections on Twenty Years with Michael Sherry’s In The Shadow of War: The United States since the 1930s,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting (cancelled due to COVID).
2019 “The Idea of the Deep State in American History,” Panel Chair, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Conference, June 21, 2019, Washington DC.
“Everything but the Fighting: The U.S. Military off the Battlefield, Panel Chair, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Conference, June 22, 2019, Washington DC.
2018 “Forever Wars: U.S. Military Conflict since September 11th,” Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations Authors’ Conference, Yale University, Sept 28-29, 2018
2017 “Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration: The First Six Months in Historical Perspective,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), June 2017, Washington DC.
“The National Security State at 70: A Roundtable on the Legacies of the National Security Act of 1947,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Boulder, CO, January 7, 2017.
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2016 “The Infrastructure of U.S. Power,” Society for Historians of American Relations (SHAFR), June 2016, San Diego, Emily Rosenberg, UC Irvine, Chair.
“A War of Words: Academics and the Military Establishment in the Age of Terror,” American Historical Association (AHA) Annual Meeting, January 6, 2016, Atlanta, GA.
2015 “State of the Field: Military History and the History of the Military,” Organization of American Historians (OAH) Annual Meeting, April 17, 2015 (panel was accepted but I could not attend).
2014 “Confronting Social Change: Gender, Sexuality, and the U.S. Military,” Organization of American Historians (OAH) Annual Meeting, April 12, 2014, Atlanta GA.
“Cultures of 20th Century Extremism: Marine Corps Culture and the Tenets of Fundamentalism,” American Historical Association (AHA) Annual Meeting, January 3, 2014. Chair; Dr. Beverly Gage, Yale University
2013 “Left Alone in American Studies: The American Military and Military Culture in America,” American Studies Association (ASA) Annual Meeting, November 22, 2013, Washington DC.
“The U.S. Armed Forces in America and in the World,” The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) Annual Meeting, Washington DC, June 2013.
“The National Security Legacy of Harry S. Truman,” The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library’s Conference on National Security, May 2013, Key West, FL.
“The Lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan,” Temple University Conference on Iraq and Afghanistan, October 5, 2013. Hosted by the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy (CENFAD).
Service
Service to the Profession
2020-Present: Co-Chair, Teaching Committee, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
2016-2018: Co-Chair, Local Arrangements Committee, 2018 Meeting, American Historical Association
2016-2018: Member, Conference Policy Committee, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
2014-2015: Member, Program Committee, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
2013-2014: Grant Reviewer, Military Records Research Grant, National Archives and Records Administration, St Louis, MO.
2011-2016: Article referee for The Journal of Military History and History: The Journal of the Historical Association (UK).
Recent University Service
2019-Present Member, Core Curriculum Advisory Committee, College of Liberal Arts, UT Austin 6
2019-Present Member, History Department Awards Committee 2018-present Member, UT Austin History Department Executive Committee 2017-2018 Member, East Asian Hire Search Committee, UT Austin 2015-2016 Chair, Class of 1957 Distinguished Chair in Naval History Search Committee 2015-2016 Chair, Class of 57 PostDoc in Naval History Search Committee 2014 Member, Departmental Promotion and Tenure Committee 2013-2016 Course Director and Coordinator, HH104 American Naval History 2013-2016 Faculty Mentor for new military history faculty 2013-2015 Member, History Department Committee on Assessment 2013-2015 Member, History Department Core Curriculum Committee 2013 & 2016 Chair, Majors Recruiting Committee 2012 Member, History Department Pay Committee 2012 Member, History Department Majors Recruiting Committee
Grants and Competitive Fellowships
2016 USNA McMullen Seapower Fellowship ($5,000) 2014 Senior Naval Academy Research Council Grant ($7,500) 2013 Senior Naval Academy Research Council Grant ($7,500) 2011 Naval Academy Research Council Grant ($5,000) 2010 Naval Academy Research Council Grant ($5,000) 2009 Naval Academy Research Council Grant ($5,000) 2008 Smith Richardson Research Fellowship (7,500) 2007 Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Research Grant ($3,000) 2007 Smith Richardson Dissertation Fellowship, International Security Studies, Yale University ($21,000) 2006 Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, Lemuel S. Shepherd Dissertation Fellowship ($10,000) 2003 Research Grant on Islamic Fundamentalism, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization ($4,500)
Languages
French: Fluent Spanish: Conversant and research-capable German: Minimally capable
Other Employment
Government
2016-2017: Director of Defense Policy & Strategy, National Security Council, The White House
Military Service (Marine Corps Reserve)
2019-Present Officer in Charge, Joint History Element, Marine Corps History Division. Rank: Colonel
2017-2019 Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Rank: Colonel
2015-2017 Field Historian, Marine Corps History Division. Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
2014-2015 Senior Defense Official & Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy Juba, South Sudan Rank: Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (12-month hardship duty tour in a civil war)
2011-2014 Special Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey 7
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel USMC (summer service only)
2010-2011 Special Advisor to the ISAF Commander, General David H. Petraeus, Kabul, Afghanistan Rank: Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (8 month combat tour)
2007-2010: Strategic Analyst for the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG), Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Pentagon. Rank: Major (summer service only)
2007: Military Adviser to the Director, Office of WMD Terrorism, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Department of State, Washington DC. Rank: Captain (summer service only)
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