US POLITICS TODAY 2020 Digital Conference for 6th Form Students Content available from Tuesday 10 November 2020

PROGRAMME

Special guests Former Members of Congress George Holding (R-NC, 2013-21) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA, 2013-17)

Video 1 (5 mins) Welcome Dr Cara Rodway (Eccles Centre, British Library)

Part I

Video 2 (30 mins) 2020 vision: looking to the past, present and future through the elections Professor Philip John Davies (Eccles Centre, British Library)

Video 3 (30 mins) Interest groups and US politics Josephine Harmon (Institute of the Americas, University College London)

Video 4 (30 mins) The Imperilled or Unconstrained Presidency? Dr Andrew Moran (London Metropolitan University)

Video 5 (30 mins) The Supreme Court: The Fight for Political Control Professor Robert McKeever (Institute of the Americas, University College London)

Part II

Video 6 (75 mins) Reflections on the 2020 General Election and What’s Next for America Dr Cara Rodway (Eccles Centre, British Library) and former Members of Congress

All content runs to a total of 3 hrs 20 mins approx.

This Digital Conference is organised as part of the Congress to Campus UK programme, which brings former Members of the US Congress to the UK to talk with student and general audiences about contemporary US politics. Working with the US Association of Former Members of Congress, the programme is coordinated by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library and the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, with support from the British Association for American Studies and the US Embassy London.

Biographies

The Honorable George Holding (R-NC, 2013-21)

George Holding grew up in Raleigh, . He attended and has degrees in Classics and Law. Holding clerked for U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, practiced law with Kilpatrick Townsend and served as the United States Attorney for North Carolina.

Holding was elected to the United States House of Representatives in the November 2012 General Election, representing North Carolina’s 13th congressional district. He serves on the Committee on Ways and Means, the Budget Committee and the Ethics Committee. He is the longtime Chairman of the British American Parliamentary Group, the U.K. Caucus and the India Caucus.

Holding focuses on issues related to taxation, trade, fiscal responsibility and foreign affairs.

The Honorable Loretta Sanchez (D-CA, 1997-2017)

Loretta Sanchez was born in Lynwood, California. She studied for a degree in economics from Chapman College in Orange County, and then an MBA from American University in Washington D.C. She was a financial analyst for defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton until she entered the House.

Holding was first elected in 1996 when she won the contest to represent California’s 46th congressional district. Her committee assignments have included the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Homeland Security. Caucus memberships have included the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the International Conservation Caucus and the Sportsmen's Caucus.

Sanchez is known for her interests in education, crime, economic development, and protections for senior citizen.

Philip John Davies Professor Philip Davies has authored and edited books, journal issues, articles and book chapters, often benefitting from the partnership of respected colleagues, on such subjects as US politics and film, politics and science fiction, the American city, the US Constitution, political marketing, the US presidency, and on US elections. He is co-author with Robert McKeever of Politics USA. Until recently, Professor Davies was Director of the Eccles Centre for American Studies. He has also served as President of the European Association for American Studies, Chair of the American Politics Group of the UK, Chair of the UK Council of Area Studies Associations and Chair of the British Association for American Studies.

Josephine Harmon Josephine Harmon is a PhD candidate in modern politics and contemporary history at the Institute of the Americas at University College London. Her research focuses on modern America and Western Europe, with a particular focus on gun control. Jo has previously worked as a researcher and assistant in Parliament and for the Labour Party, and as a political researcher for a consultancy, in the Remain campaign and other public sector organisations.

Andrew Moran Dr Andrew Moran is an Associate Professor of International Relations and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His teaching specialisms are International Relations, and the foreign policy, history and politics of the United States of America. He has contributed to scholarly journals such as Presidential Studies Quarterly, White House Studies, Political Studies, Party Politics, The Amicus Journal, and Democratization, and has appeared on BBC News 24, Sky News, CNN, The Voice of Russia Radio and Bloomberg TV. He is co-author of the text book International Security Studies, has written widely on American foreign policy, and recently updated Dorling Kindersley’s Children’s Encyclopedia of American History (in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution).

Robert McKeever Professor Bob McKeever is an Associate Fellow at the Institute of the Americas, University College London. He is one of the UK’s leading specialists in American Politics and is particularly known for his work on the United States Supreme Court. His publications include Raw Judicial Power: the Supreme Court and American Society; The United States Supreme Court: a Political and Legal Analysis; and (with Philip Davies) Politics USA.

Cara Rodway Dr Cara Rodway holds a PhD in American Studies from King’s College London. Her research centres on twentieth-century US social history, popular culture, and the formation of identity. Cara is the Deputy Head of the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library. She is also Chair of the British Association for American Studies. Before joining the Eccles Centre in 2013, she worked in Cultural Affairs at the US Embassy in London. From 2009-11, she was Lecturer in American Studies at King's College London. She has also worked at the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Opera House and for theatrical producer Sonia Friedman.