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Marilyn B. Young received her Ph.d from Harvard University in 1963. She taught at the University of Michigan before coming to NYU in 1980 where she is a full professor in the Department of History. Professor Young teaches courses on the history of U.S. foreign policy, the politics and culture of post-war U.S., as well as courses on the history of modern China, and the history and culture of Vietnam.

In February 2005, historian Allen Weinstein was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and began his service as the 9th Archivist of the United States, leading the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). From 1985 to 2003, he served as President of The Center for Democracy, a non-profit foundation that he created in 1985 to promote and strengthen the democratic process, based in Washington, DC. His international awards include the United Nations Peace Medal (1986) for "efforts to promote peace, dialogue and free elections in several critical parts of the world"; The Council of Europe's Silver Medal (twice, in 1990 and 1996), presented by its Parliamentary Assembly, for "outstanding assistance and guidance over many years"; and awards from the presidents of Nicaragua and Romania for assistance in their countries democratization processes. He was also University Professor and Professor of History at Boston University from 1985-89, University Professor at Georgetown University from 1981-1984 and, from 1981 to 1983, Executive Editor of *The Washington Quarterly* at Georgetown's Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served as a member of *The Washington Post* editorial staff in 1981. From 1966-81 he was Professor of History at Smith College and Chairman of its American Studies Program.

Audra Parker is Chief Operating Officer/Executive Director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. Audra has been with the Alliance since early 2003. She has 20 years of experience in strategy and business management, has consulted to a wide range of industries, and is active in local community affairs. She holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Brown University. She lives in Osterville with her four children.

In 1975, Jim started EMI and over the ensuing years would build EMI into one of the most successful privately held independent power companies in America. He recruited and managed a team of dedicated and highly motivated professionals that were able to complete the myriad and complex tasks of creating state of the art power projects. Jim's sense of timing and grasp of political and regulatory directions allowed EMI to develop some of New England's first gas fired cogeneration and independent power projects as well as the first generation of merchant electric plants in the United States. Jim is a graduate of Boston University's School of Public Communications and worked for Warner Communications Corporation prior to founding EMI.

David Kaiser is an associate professor in MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society, and a lecturer in MIT's Department of Physics. He completed an A.B. in physics (1993) at Dartmouth College, and Ph.D.s in physics (1997) and the history of science (2000) at Harvard University. Kaiser's historical research focuses on the development of physics in the United States during the Cold War, looking at how the discipline has evolved at the intersection of politics, culture, and the changing shape of higher education. His physics research focuses on early-universe cosmology, working at the interface of particle physics and gravitation. Kaiser is author of the award-winning *Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics* (2005), which traces how Richard Feynman's idiosyncratic approach to quantum physics entered the mainstream. He has also edited several books on the history of modern physical sciences, including, most recently, *Pedagogy and the Practice of Science: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives* (2005). Kaiser is author of the award-winning *Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics* (2005), which traces how Richard Feynman's idiosyncratic approach to quantum physics entered the mainstream. He has also edited several books on the history of modern physical sciences, including, most recently, *Pedagogy and the Practice of Science: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives* (2005).

Tim Naftali is the director of the Nixon Presidential Materials Project and director-designate of the federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, which will officially open this summer in Yorba Linda, California. Before joining the National Archives and Records Administration in October 2006, Tim was at the University of Virginia's Miller Center where he wrote widely on foreign policy and presidential history. His latest books are Khrushchev's Cold War (co-authored with Aleksandr Fursenko) and Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism. His views on this blog are emphatically his own and do not represent the policies or positions of the US government.

Jeffrey Kimball has taught courses on the history of diplomacy, peace, war, imperialism, popular culture, the United States, American presidents, and Western civilization since 1968. His books include To Reason Why: The Debate About the Causes of American Involvement in the Vietnam War (1990), Nixon's Vietnam War(1998), and The Vietnam War Files: Uncovering the Secret History of Nixon-Era Strategy (2004). Nixon's Vietnam War won the Ohio Academy of History Book Award and the Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize. He has served as visiting professor at the University of New Orleans, History Department Graduate Director at Miami University, and president of the Peace History Society, and he has held fellowships from the Nobel Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center, and the Mershon Center.

Jimmy Carter was the 39th US President. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of US diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration's achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. In 1982, he founded The Carter Center. Carter Center fellows, associates, and staff join with President Carter in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. On December 10, 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Carter "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

Brian Williams is the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of *NBC Nightly News*, which represents the largest single daily source of news in America. Recently, Williams became the most honored network evening news anchor. He received four Edward R. Murrow awards, his fifth Emmy award, the duPont-Columbia University award and the industry's highest honor, the George Foster Peabody award. Most were given for his work in New Orleans while covering Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and all were awarded to Williams in only his second year on the job. Williams was the first and only network evening news anchor to report from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit and was the only network news anchor to report from the Superdome during the storm. He remained in New Orleans to report on the aftermath and destruction of Hurricane Katrina, and continues to travel back and forth to the region to cover the recovery and rebuilding efforts.

Alexander Haig was born on December 2,1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was best known as Four-star general and U.S. Secretary of State from 1981 to 1982. Al Haig graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1947, served in Europe and Asia until 1960, worked in Washington until a combat tour in Vietnam in 1966-67, and then returned to Washington in 1969 to work in the White House for Henry Kissinger. After President Richard Nixon's top aides resigned during the Watergate scandal in 1973, Haig served as White House Chief of Staff until after Nixon's resignation in 1974. Haig also served as NATO commander (1974-79), and in 1981 he became Ronald Reagan's secretary of state. Haig abruptly resigned in 1982, reportedly over policy disagreements. In 1988 he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the U.S. presidential election.

Dan Rather is a journalist and former news anchor for the CBS Evening News and is now managing editor and anchor of a television news magazine, Dan Rather Reports, on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of The CBS Evening News for 24 years. He also contributed to CBS' 60 Minutes.