Earlier this month, our Monroe Fellows had the opportunity to have lunch with Elliott Abrams, a leading figure in American foreign policy who has served in senior positions under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
Following lunch, Abrams joined constitutional scholar and SCL Distinguished Visiting Professor John Yoo for a conversation on “Iran, Venezuela, and American Power in the World.” Drawing on Abrams’s experience as United States special representative for both Iran and Venezuela, the discussion explored the challenges these regimes pose to American interests and ideals, as well as the purposes, possibilities, and limits of American power in the world.
The Monroe Fellows Program gathers students, scholars, and statesmen to consider the principles and practices of American leadership in foreign affairs. They meet with foreign policy experts and national security officials, study war and diplomacy with SCL and other UT professors, and participate in activities that cultivate the intellectual seriousness and political judgment necessary for civic leadership in a dangerous world.
Take a look at some photos from the Monroe Fellows’ lunch and the conversation that followed.