Timothy Naftali is a Canadian-American historian who is clinical associate professor of public service at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
. He has written four books, two of them co-authored with Alexander Fursenko on the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the Unite ...
and
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...
.
He is a regular
CNN contributor as a CNN presidential historian.
Early life and education
Naftali was born in Montreal and at one point worked as an aide to
Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just ...
. In 2007, he told the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'' that he left Canada for the US in response to
Quebec's language laws: "It seemed to me that the deck was stacked against civil liberties and I preferred to be in a country where I didn't have to worry about what language I spoke." He earned his undergraduate degree from Yale, and later obtained graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins and Harvard.
Career
Naftali's area of focus was the history of
counterterrorism
Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...
and the
Cold War.
Before taking the Nixon Library position, Naftali had been an associate professor at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...
, where he directed the
Miller Center of Public Affairs
The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in United States presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history.
History
The Miller Center was founded in 1975 through the philanthrop ...
' Presidential Recordings Program. In the 1990s, he taught at the University of Hawaii and Yale University.
He served as a consultant to the
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
, which commissioned him to write an unclassified history of American counterterrorism policy. This was later expanded into his well-received 2005 book ''Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism''.
From 2007 to 2011, he directed the
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and burial site of Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States (1969–1974), and his wife Pat Nixon.
Located in Yorba Linda, California, on land ...
. He was appointed when control of the Library was transferred from the
Richard Nixon Foundation to the
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
.
His biggest task at the library was to present a more objective and unbiased picture of the Watergate scandal—a task completed in March 2011, when the Library's new Watergate gallery opened and received extensive news coverage.
Naftali left the Nixon Library later that year.
Personal life
Naftali is gay. He has said that he has faced discrimination for his sexual orientation in the past.
Selected publications
*1997: ''One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958–1964'' (with Aleksandr Fursenko):
*2001: ''John F. Kennedy: The Great Crises'' (edited with
Philip D. Zelikow
Philip David Zelikow (; born September 21, 1954) is an American diplomat, academic and author. He has worked as the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, and Coun ...
and
Ernest R. May):
*2005: ''Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism'':
*2006: ''Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary'' (with Aleksandr Fursenko), which won the
Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature:
*2007: ''George H. W. Bush'':
*2018: ''
Impeachment: An American History''
References
External links
Los Angeles Times interview Articles by Naftaliat ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
''
Blog posts by Naftaliat ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naftali, Timothy
1962 births
Living people
Academics from Montreal
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Harvard University alumni
Yale University alumni
Cold War historians
Writers from Montreal
LGBT historians
20th-century Canadian historians
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Canadian gay writers
Gay academics
21st-century Canadian historians
21st-century Canadian LGBT people
20th-century Canadian LGBT people
Canadian LGBT academics