I am a PhD student from Glenmora, Louisiana. My dissertation revolves around the formation of the special relationship between the United States and Israel between 1942 and 1963. I investigate how cultural, political, and strategic factors led to the special relationship’s emergence. Contingency is the predominant theme in my dissertation. Divergent American and Israeli strategic interests undermined American Zionists’ efforts to cultivate an American-Israeli alliance based upon shared cultural and political values between the two countries. My research will examine how tensions between domestic lobbies and successive presidential administrations complicated the formation of the special relationship and why that relationship did take shape.    

Brad Johnston

Mississippi State University

 bnj130@msstate.edu

Education

• Ph.D., History, Mississippi State University

• Advisor: Dr. Mary Kathryn Barbier
• Dissertation: Contested Relationship: The Shaping of American-Israeli Relations, 1942-1963

• M.A., History, Mississippi State University, 2020
• B.A., History, Louisiana State University at Alexandria, 2012

Professional Experience

• Teaching Assistant, World History (Spring 2019)
• Teaching Assistant, Early U.S. History (Fall 2019)
• Teaching Assistant, Early U.S. History (Spring 2020)
• Teaching Assistant, Early U.S. History (Fall 2020)
• Teaching Assistant, Early U.S. History (Spring 2021)
• Teaching Assistant, Modern U.S. History (Fall 2021)
• Teaching Assistant, Mississippi History (Spring 2022)
• Guest Lecturer, Modern U.S. History, The Warfare State (Spring 2022)
• Guest Lecturer, Mississippi History, Reconstruction in Mississippi (Spring 2022)
• Graduate Research Assistant, Mississippi Political Collections (Fall 2022)
• Graduate Research Assistant, Mississippi Special Collections and Manuscripts (Spring 2023)
• Graduate Research Assistant, Mississippi Special Collections and Manuscripts (Fall 2023)

Conferences/Presentations

• “Disconnect Between Academia and the Archives” Discussion Panel, Society of Mississippi Archivists (pending, April 2023)
• “Fractured Comrades: Divergent Paths in American Zionism” Paper, Policy History Conference (June 2023)
• “Contested Relationship: The Public-Private Struggle Over American-Israeli Relations, 1942-1963” Seminar Presentation, American Jewish Archives (July 2023)

Awards/Fellowships

• Eisenhower Foundation Grant (2019)

• James W. Garner Scholarship (2019-2021)
• Walter and Chaya H. Roth Fellowship, American Jewish Archives (2023)