Tough Calls: the Second Annual Nancy Bernkopf Tucker Memorial Lecture

On April 16th, 2014, Harry Harding delivered the Second Annual Nancy Bernkopf Tucker Memorial Lecture for the Asia Program.  Harding is the dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.

Titled "Tough Calls: Difficult Assessments and Hard Choices in U.S. Policy Toward China," the lecture looked back over the writings and career of Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, exploring her opinions on the different decisions made by U.S. policymakers in regards to China through recent history.  Harding pointed out a "sustained interest" in the tough calls made since the 1940's in Tucker's work.

By tough analytic calls I mean those where the questions are:  what is happening, where are things going, and what will it mean for us?  And tough policy calls are those where the issue is: what should we do about those developments, how can we advance American interests, and how can we design our policy to have the best chance of success?

You can view the lecture in the video above, and you can download and read Harding's speech below.