The Nixon Seminar on Conservative Realism and National Security

A monthly gathering of senior statesmen and rising specialists in various aspects of great power competition and American national security, to discuss issues of current and continuing importance to the nation’s interests abroad.

 

President Nixon was the ultimate geopolitical strategist, and implemented a visionary foreign policy rooted in realism that prioritized America’s interests, particularly with regard to his historic opening to the People’s Republic of China in 1972, his initiation of detente with the Soviet Union and his efforts to broker peace in the Middle East which have borne fruit with 1978’s Camp David Accords, 1993’s Oslo Accords and 2020’s Abraham Accords.

The Nixon Seminar on Conservative Realism and National Security is a monthly gathering of senior statesmen and rising specialists in various aspects of great power competition and American national security, to discuss issues of current and continuing importance to the nation’s interests abroad co-chaired by former Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and former National Security Advisor Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien. Dr. Henry Kissinger serves as Honorary Chair.

The Nixon Seminar reasserts and advances the visionary international policies rooted in conservative realism that President Nixon brought to fore 50 years ago by carefully developing and outlining policies that look 50 years into the future. Particular focus and emphasis will be given to advancing Sino-American relations, evaluating global technological innovations, and developing a lasting peace in the Middle East.

The members of the Seminar are all experienced in their fields and most have served at senior levels in government. All are committed to conservative realism as the North Star of American national security: the pressing need to see threats to American security clearly and to deal with them from a position of national strength and with candor and clarity.