Dr. Charles A. Stevenson has been teaching American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies for two decades. Born in Denver, first in his family to go to college, he has AB and PhD degrees from Harvard. He started government service in three summer jobs under what is now called the Presidential Management Fellows program, working in the Treasury and Navy Departments. Once he completed the PhD, he began 22 years as a Senate staffer for defense and foreign policy, writing laws and overseeing national security policy. He continued his service with 13 years as a professor at the National War College, teaching senior civilian and military officers. He has written a textbook, America's Foreign Policy Toolkit, as well as books on Congress and its war powers, a history of U.S. civil-military relations, and a comparative study of American Secretaries of Defense. He served three years on the Project on National Security Reform, which made comprehensive recommendations for improving the foreign policy process. He was elected as a NAPA Fellow in 2016.
Who or what inspired you to enter into public service? By the time I was in high school, following the news about foreign policy crises, I wanted to work in the government on those issues.
What is your favorite class you have ever taught or taken and why? I was admitted to Harvard's first class in a new disciplinary program called Social Studies, and our sophomore class read the great books in the Social Sciences: Adam Smith, Joseph Schumpeter, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Alexis de Tocqueville, and many others. Mind-stretching and exciting.
What advice would you give to those interested in pursuing public policy or public administration as a career? 1.Once hired, be a sponge to learn everything about your organization and a willing helper even on the mind-numbing tasks. 2. Given a new job choice, choose the one with a good boss who can be a mentor over the one with a title but less learning opportunity.
What area of public policy interests you the most and why? Foreign policy because it's so important, and mistakes so deadly.
What is your favorite cuisine? I love French food in restaurants but usually fix Asian stir fries at home.
What is your favorite hobby or activity that you enjoy doing in your free time?
Spending time with grandchildren.
Who in your life has been an influential mentor or inspiration for you? I had several academic/practitioner role models: Richard Neustadt, McGeorge Bundy, Robert Bowie, Henry Kissinger and one Senate boss who was especially good at training me to think politically, Senator John Culver [D-Iowa].
What was your dream job as a child? I wanted to be a journalist and even did an occasional one-page family newspaper as a kid.
