John Adams Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis

05/29/2026

We're excited and ready to host this year's Summer Seminar in Military History along with ! On Sunday we'll welcome 15 outstanding early career scholars for two weeks of immersive learning on the theory and practice of teaching military history. Follow along here, as we'll be posting updates.

05/23/2026

Cadets showed up in force at the National Archives this week under the guidance of Adams Center Director Joel Christenson '99 and Dr. Bradley Coleman '95. Assigned to research internships with the American Battle Monuments Commission, the National D-Day Memorial, and the Adams Center's path-breaking Secretaries of Defense Records Project, they are diving deeply into WWII and Cold War records. Stay tuned for details!

04/30/2026

Congratulations to Mark Thomas-Patterson, winner of this year's Adams Center Dissertation Grant! A doctoral candidate in History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mr. Thomas-Patterson will receive $5,000 to advance his dissertation, "To Secure a New Order: U.S. Nuclear Security and the Collapse of the Soviet Union."

04/25/2026

04/16/2026

This week, cadets in Adams Center Director Joel Christenson's U.S. Military History classes heard from Lt. Col. Mike Nelson '99 (U.S. Army, Retired) about his work in Special Forces during the Global War on Terror, and about living lives of honor and service after VMI. Wonderful day of learning and reflection.

04/13/2026

Wonderful hosting the Class of 1971 today to talk about how we're delivering on the vision of their beloved Brother Rat, John, in everything we do here in the Adams Center. Congratulations on your 55th reunion!

04/09/2026

Congrats, PAT inductees!

04/08/2026

We're looking forward to this!

The Adams Center and the John Biggs ’30 Cincinnati Endowment in Military History are excited to welcome award-winning historian Michael S. Neiberg (U.S. Army War College) to Post next week!

Dr. Neiberg will deliver a lecture titled “Whole, Free, and at Peace? Why History Won’t Let Europe Go” on Thursday, April 16 at 8 PM.

At the end of the Cold War, leaders like George H. W. Bush envisioned a Europe that was “whole, free, and at peace.” This lecture explores why that vision remains elusive, tracing today’s security challenges back to the long shadows of 1914–1989.

Michael S. Neiberg is Professor of History and Chair of War Studies at the U.S. Army War College. He is a leading scholar of the First and Second World Wars, author of “Dance of the Furies and When France Fell,” and an internationally recognized voice on Europe’s past and present.

04/03/2026

Great work by Cadet Jai Vijayan '26, whose Institute Honors project explores "last mile" logistics challenges in the Solomon Islands Campaign in World War II. Adams Center Director Joel Christenson, Vijayan's advisor on the project, called Jai's project "thoughtful, innovative, timely, and applicable," and said his research "proves that there is new information even in the most studied of conflicts." https://www.vmi.edu/news/headlines/2025-2026/vijayan-studies-military-logistics.php