Former Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg ’78 to Lecture on U.S.-China Relations

James B. Steinberg ’78, a leading foreign policy expert who served as Deputy Secretary of State under Hillary Clinton ’73, will deliver a Distinguished Lecture at Yale Law School on Thursday, March 6. Titled "Strategic Reassurance and Resolve: U.S.-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century," the lecture will take place from 4:10-5:30 pm in Room 129 and is free and open to the public.

Widely acknowledged as one of the leading foreign policy figures in the United States, James Steinberg is Dean of the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, and University Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law. Prior to becoming Dean on July 1, 2011, Steinberg served as Deputy Secretary of State, serving as the principal Deputy to Secretary Clinton. From 2005 to 2008, Steinberg was Dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. From 2001 to 2005, he was vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he supervised a wide-ranging research program on U.S. foreign policy. Steinberg served as deputy national security advisor to President Clinton from 1996 to 2000. During that period he also served as the President’s personal representative to the 1998 and 1999 G-8 summits. Prior to becoming deputy national security advisor, Steinberg served as director of the State Department’s policy planning staff, and as deputy assistant secretary for analysis in the bureau of Intelligence and Research. He also previously served as Senator Edward Kennedy’s principal aide for the Senate Armed Services Committee and minority counsel, U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

Steinberg has a forthcoming book, also titled Strategic Reassurance and Strategic Resolve: US-China Relations in the 21st Century, with Michael O’Hanlon (Princeton University Press, winter 2014). He also authored Difficult Transitions: Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Presidential Power (2008) with Kurt Campbell.

Steinberg received a B.A. from Harvard and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

“There is no one better in the field of American foreign policy. Steinberg has a first-class analytic mind, a vast range and depth of knowledge, a shrewd and constructive strategic sensibility, and extraordinary experience in the arena,” said Paul Gewirtz ’70, Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director, The China Center at Yale Law School.