Generous Gift to Fund Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy

Yale alumni Nicholas F. Brady and Charles B. Johnson have provided a generous gift to fund the teaching and research of an expanded Grand Strategy Program for 15 years. In recognition of the gift, the program will be named the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale University.

“The mandate of the Brady-Johnson Program is to prepare a new generation of leaders,” said President Richard C. Levin. “Unique among Yale programs, the initiative brings together students from Yale College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Yale’s professional schools to study the best of what has been thought and written about grand strategy over the past 2,500 years.”

The Brady-Johnson Program takes full advantage of Yale’s scope as a research institution. Its students, faculty and practitioners broadly represent Yale’s many schools and departments, ranging from the humanities to management.  It will serve students who seek traditional careers associated with strategic studies programs, as well as those who venture into other fields.

“The principles of grand strategy apply throughout the spectrum of human activities, not least those of private corporations, international institutions and non-government organizations, ” Levin said.

The program is led by John Lewis Gaddis, the Robert J. Lovett Professor of History; Paul Kennedy, the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History; and Charles Hill, Yale’s diplomat in residence and lecturer in Directed Studies, humanities, international studies and grand strategy.  The three teach the program’s yearlong core seminar and work with other faculty and visiting practitioners to offer other courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

“Within a tradition of training men and women for national leadership, students at Yale can benefit immensely from the interaction that occurs when the scholar and the practitioner teach together in the same classroom,” Brady and Johnson stated. “As professors, practitioners and students examine problems and issues from the perspective of history and research, on the one hand, and actual experience, on the other, wisdom is the result.”

“The University is grateful to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Brady for their foresight and generosity in building the foundation of this initiative,” Levin said. “Their contribution will allow this vital program to expand its breadth and reach today and into the future.”

Founder and chairman of Darby Overseas Investments, Ltd.,  Nicholas F. Brady is a 1952 graduate of Yale College who has had a distinguished career in the private sector and public service. He served as Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also served in the U.S. Senate and on five presidential commissions.

Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, is chairman of the board of Franklin Resources, Inc., and chairman and director of over 40 investment companies managed and advised by subsidiaries of Franklin Resources. Johnson, who served in the U.S. Army, is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts and was chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers.