American Experience: The Iran War and the Most Dangerous Elections in our Lifetime

September 17, 2026 | 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Reception to follow REGISTER NOW Robert A. Pape is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he also founded and serves as Director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. He has described his work as the study of “how force is used to achieve political objectives, how escalation unfolds, and how strategies of restraint can succeed or fail in international and American political violence.” In anticipation of the September release of his most recent book, Our Own Worst Enemies: America in the Age of Violent Populism, the New Press said, “The nation’s leading expert on political violence diagnoses the gravest threat to American democracy and how to overcome it.” Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel wrote that “Pape’s book presents a critically important and insightful analysis of the dangerous realities of internal divisions that destroy security and governance.” Professor Pape’s earlier books include Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It, The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, and Bombing to Win: Airpower and Coercion in War. His commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Republic, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and he has been a featured guest on Face the Nation, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, All In with Chris Hayes, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and National Public Radio, among others. Earlier in his career, Professor Pape taught at Dartmouth College and the U.S. Air Force School of Advanced Airpower Studies. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh. At Pitt, he graduated summa cum laude, earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa, was selected through a very competitive national process to receive a prestigious, merit-based Harry S. Truman Scholarship, and has his nam