Nancy Pelosi is the most successful woman in American politics. The first female Speaker of the House in American history, Pelosi has twice held this position. And, in one of the most tumultuous eras in American politics, she's taken centre stage multiple times. What characterises her leadership? What’s been her approach to dealing with the most volatile White House in US history? What would Pelosi’s legislative priorities be in a Biden administration?
To discuss Pelosi's career and to talk about the state of the US election, USSC hosted a webinar event featuring the award-winning political journalist Molly Ball, TIME magazine’s national political correspondent and author of the recent biography Pelosi, in conversation with Dr Charles Edel, Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre and Dr John Lee, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre.
Molly Ball is TIME magazine's national political correspondent and a political analyst for CNN. Her latest book, Pelosi, has been hailed by publishers from The Washington Post to O Magazine. She appears regularly on PBS's Washington Week, CBS's Face the Nation, ABC's This Week, and other television and radio programs. Ball is the winner of numerous awards for her coverage of American politics, including the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize and the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting. She grew up in Idaho and Colorado and lives in the Washington, DC, area with her husband and three children.
Dr Charles Edel is Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College, and served on the US Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015-2017. In that role, he advised Secretary of State John Kerry on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. He is the co-author of The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019) and author of Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (2014).
Dr John Lee is an adjunct professor and non-resident senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre. He is also a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. From 2016-2018, he was senior adviser to the Australian Foreign Minister, the lead ministerial adviser for the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and her principal adviser on Indo-Pacific strategic affairs in the lead-up to the reinstitution of the Quad in 2017.
