'From Truman to Trump: American Politics and the World' Clive Myrie in conversation with Andrew Priest

BBC News correspondent and journalist Clive Myrie will look back at US presidents from Truman to Trump with historian Dr Andrew Priest in a free public lecture at the University of Essex’s Colchester Campus on Wednesday May 9, 2018.

Myrie, an expert on American political history and one of the BBC’s most experienced foreign correspondents, will lead a “no holds barred” approach to the history of American politics and some of the country’s most controversial leaders.

He has held posts as Washington correspondent, covering the administrations of three US presidents, covered elections home and abroad and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“America's status in the world dictates global interest. The person in the Oval Office is the global sheriff - whether folk in the rust belt like it or not,” he said.

In Myrie’s opinion the election of Trump was “fundamentally a repudiation of eight years of diversity, inclusion and stuttering economic growth”.

“Yet at the same time unlike other commentators I don't necessarily see his victory as the massive resurgence of a bigoted America,” he added. “I just think those who were economically whacked by the recession of 2008 didn't fundamentally have much to cheer about by 2016, so decided to throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Dr Priest, a Senior Lecturer from the Department of History, specialises in modern international politics, in particular the US ‘War on Terror’ and human rights and the idea of trust in US nuclear diplomacy in the 1970s and 1980s.

‘From Truman to Trump: American Politics and the World’. Clive Myrie in conversation with Andrew Priest will take place on Wednesday May 9 at the Essex Business School. 

Doors open at 5pm with a 5.30pm start. The event is free, but registration is required. Please book using the event link.