Since 2011, the Walter Roberts Endowment has hosted an annual lecture inviting prominent and distinguished speakers on foreign policy, American politics, and the world at large. The WRE Annual Lecture is held at the George Washington University and is free and open to the general public. The lectures provide the opportunity for the diverse audience of students, faculty, public diplomacy practitioners, and other members of the public to hear different perspectives on issues relating to or influencing public diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy.
2025 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture
New Cold Wars: A Conversation with David Sanger
Highlights from the event
On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, GW Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC), the School of Media and Public Affairs, and the Elliott School of International Affairs co-hosted the 2025 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture. In this year’s lecture, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and SMPA’s Terker Distinguished Fellow, David Sanger, joined Frank Sesno for a riveting conversation on America’s escalating rivalry with China and Russia in the post-Cold War era. Drawing from his latest book, New Cold Wars, Sanger delivered a gripping account of the high-stakes confrontations shaping our world, spanning military, economic, political, and technological fronts.
Through exclusive interviews with top officials and an in-depth analysis of global events, Sanger unpacked how U.S. assumptions about Russia and China’s integration into a Western-led order have shifted, leading to an era of intensified geopolitical competition.
Previous Annual Lectures
2023: The 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture, Iceland’s Ambassador to the U.S., Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, spoke on Iceland’s position on climate change, especially in the Arctic region.
2022: The 2022 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture featured retired U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius speaking on the diplomatic work that helped bring about reconciliation between the U.S. and Vietnam. Amb. Osius served in Vietnam from 2014-2017.
2021: The 2021 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture featured a virtual panel comprising of Richard A. Stengel, former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2014-2016), Amanda Bennett, former director of the Voice of America (2016-2020), and Professor Nicholas Cull, historian, and professor at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy in California.
2020: Joseph Nye, eminent scholar of international relations and political scientist, Harvard University Kennedy School.
2019: Robert Kagan, neoconservative American historian and foreign-policy commentator, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
2018: Bruce Wharton, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2016-2017), U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe (2012 – 2015)
2017: Michael McFaul, U.S. Ambassador to Russia (2012-2014)
2016: David Ensor, Director, Voice of America (2011-2015)
2014: Robert Ford, U.S. Ambassador to Syria (2010-2014)
2013 January: Thomas Pickering, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1989-1992)
2013 November: Tara Sonenshine, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2012-2013)
2011: Brent Scowcroft, National Security Adviser (1989-1993, 1975-1977)