Francis J. Gavin

Francis J. Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and the inaugural director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Previously, he was the first Frank Stanton Chair in Nuclear Security Policy Studies at MIT and the Tom Slick Professor of International Affairs and the Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas.

Gavin received a PhD and MA in history from the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in modern European history from Oxford University, and a BA in political science from the University of Chicago. He directs the "Nuclear Studies Research Initiative" and, with James Steinberg, the "International Policy Scholars Consortium and Network." From 2005 until 2010, he directed the American Assembly’s multiyear, national initiative, the "Next Generation Project: U.S. Global Policy and the Future of International Institutions." He is also the Chairman of the Board of Editors of the "Texas National Security Review," an affiliate of MIT’s Security Studies Program, a senior fellow of the Clements Center for National Security, a distinguished scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center, a member of the CIA Historical Panel, and a life-member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Gavin’s writings include "Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971" (University of North Carolina Press); "Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America’s Atomic Age" (Cornell University Press) and "Nuclear Weapons and American Grand Strategy" (Brookings Institution Press), which was named a "2020 Choice" Outstanding Academic Title. His IISS-Adelphi book, "The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty: Rethinking International Relations and American Grand Strategy in a New Era" was published in 2024. In 2025, "Wonder and Worry: Contemporary History in an Age of Uncertainty" was published by Stolpe Press and "Thinking Historically – A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy" came out with Yale University Press.