Experts in the News | Miller Center

Miller Center event focuses on smooth presidential transition, no matter who wins

On Friday, three panels of veteran staff from previous U.S. presidential administrations joined experts from the University of Virginia’s Miller Center to discuss the importance of a smooth presidential transition, whether from an incumbent president to a newly elected one, or from a first-term presidency to a second-term presidency.

Barbara Perry

China, Asia, and the US: Foreground and Lost Ground

Evan A. Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, delivers a talk on "China, Asia, and the US: Foreground and Lost Ground."

Evan Feigenbaum

War and Terrorism

Only Congress has the authority to declare war. Can it take it back?

The Constitution places the authority to declare war with Congress. Nonetheless, since the 1950s, modern presidents have assumed the authority to use military force in conflicts that include Korea, Grenada, Haiti, Kosovo and Libya.

The Washington Post

The President has Covid. The Roundtable

How does the President's Covid affect the government, the campaign, the debates, the White House response to the pandemic? With Gabe Debenedetti National Correspondent for New York Magazine, Lauren Burke, Writer for Black Press USA and Chris Lu, Former Obama White House Cabinet Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Labor.

Chris Lu

Trump team on watch for adversaries seeking to exploit the president's illness

“There is a process for government to function even if you have a president who’s distracted or incapacitated,” said Chris Lu, the executive director of the 2008 Barack Obama transition effort. “Trump’s Covid diagnosis adds an additional level of uncertainty at a time when we know foreign adversaries are trying to exploit our weaknesses.”

Chris Lu

What happens when U.S. presidents get sick? History offers clues

One of the most famous cases of a president’s health drawing national concern occurred in 1919 after President Woodrow Wilson caught influenza during treaty negotiations after the end of World War I, said Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. Wilson later attempted to conduct a whistlestop tour of the U.S. West to promote the League of Nations and to rally the public ahead of his attempt at a third term in office. During the tour, on Oct. 2, 1919, he suffered a massive stroke and took months to recover.

Barbara Perry