Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War

  • 27 November 2018
  • 2 minutes

Dr John Lehman, former U.S Secretary for the Navy and Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius, has launched his latest book Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea at The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.

In the book, Dr Lehman shares a thrilling story of his time as Ronald Reagan’s secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987. His role guided the service toward Reagan’s promise to rebuild the U.S military, in particular a formidable 600-ship Navy – to counter the Soviet Union’s military expansion. The story is told by Dr Lehman on the basis of recently declassified documents and is described by Senator John McCain as ‘a must-read’.

Dr Lehman’s connection to Caius started in 1965 when he came to read law and was taught by Sir Elihu Lauterpacht. In his second year at Caius he was elected Captain of Boats and has maintained his close links with the Boat Club ever since. In 1998 John became the first President of the Caius Foundation, the College's US Charity which enables our US alumni to make tax deductible donations to the College. He is a tremendous supporter of the College and one of the bays in our new boathouse is named for him.

The book launch was hosted by The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, together with the Forum on Geopolitics. Led by Caius Fellow Dr Kun-Chin Lin as Deputy Director, the Forum on Geopolitics is an interdisciplinary space created by leading academics to consider within their historical contexts the world's most pressing current geopolitical questions.

The talk was followed by a dinner hosted by the Master, Dr Pippa Rogerson, including prominent guests from the British Royal Navy and the British Foreign Policy Group.

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