Timothy Naftali
Timothy Naftali is a historian and author known for his work on U.S. presidential history, national security, and the Cold War. Born in Montreal, Canada, in 1962, Naftali earned his B.A. from Yale University and his Ph.D. in History from Harvard University. He has taught at institutions such as the University of Virginia, the University of Hawaii, and Yale University, specializing in Cold War history and U.S. national security.[1]
In 2007, Naftali was appointed the first director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. During his tenure, he focused on making the library's Watergate-related documents more accessible and integrated a comprehensive portrayal of the Watergate scandal into the museum's exhibits.
This put Naftali at odds with the Nixon Foundation, which opposed not only the way in which the scandal was treated at the library, but how it was portrayed as overshadowing Nixon's many other accomplishments.[2] The treatment by left-wing academics like Naftali towards Nixon has been chronically biased and prejudiced against Nixon.
Naftali has authored several significant books. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964 (1997), co-authored with Aleksandr Fursenko, examines the Cuban Missile Crisis using declassified documents from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. His book Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism (2005) explores U.S. counterterrorism efforts from the Cold War onward. George H. W. Bush: The American Presidents Series: The 41st President, 1989-1993 (2007) provides a biography of George H. W. Bush, focusing on his presidency and foreign policy.
Bibliography
- Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964. W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. ISBN 978-0393317909.
- Naftali, Timothy. Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism. Basic Books, 2005. ISBN 978-0465058934.
- Naftali, Timothy. George H. W. Bush: The American Presidents Series: The 41st President, 1989-1993. Times Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0805069634.
- Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary. W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. ISBN 978-0393058093.
References
- ↑ "An Interview with Timothy Naftali", Andrew Tran, The Politic, November 4, 2012, | https://thepolitic.org/article/an-interview-with-timothy-naftali
- ↑ |last=Reid |first=Tim |title=At Nixon library, tension over how to portray a disgraced president |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA3S03K/ |agency=Reuters |date=April 29, 2014 |access-date=June 9, 2024