Joseph Ledford is an Assistant Professor of Security Studies and Director of Research at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Griffin Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
A historian of U.S. foreign relations, Ledford’s research examines the individuals and institutions responsible for the exercise of American power in the world, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, and the domestic politics of foreign policy, broadly construed. Other interests include the uses and abuses of history in policymaking.
Ledford is the co-editor of History’s Dead-Hand Grip: Politics, Statecraft, and “Lessons” of the Past. Set for release on November 1, 2026, History’s Dead-Hand Grip features eight scholars, including Ledford, exploring the uses and misuses of history in policymaking across the world, from the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia to Brazil, Indonesia, China, and North Korea.
He is also the author of a forthcoming book on the Iran-Contra affair and Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Tentatively titled Of Scandal and Power: A History of the Iran-Contra Affair, the book will examine the scandal from its origins in the politics of the 1970s through its drawn-out resolution in the mid-1990s.
In addition to his historical work, Ledford frequently provides analysis and commentary on U.S. foreign policy and issues of national security for popular and policy outlets. He has conducted research for the Office of Net Assessment and testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere.
Ledford’s writing has appeared in outlets such as Foreign Policy, Engelsberg Ideas, The National Interest, RealClearDefense, Defense & Security Analysis, Defining Ideas, War on the Rocks, The Caravan, The Journal of Military History, H-War, and the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. His research has received support from institutions such as the Everett M. Dirksen Congressional Center, the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Ledford received his Ph.D. from the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the University of Texas, he was a Hoover Fellow and Assistant Director of the Hoover History Lab at the Hoover Institution, where he also served as Vice Chair of the Applied History Working Group. He previously held the America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and he remains an affiliated scholar of the America in the World Consortium.
