Senator John McCain listened to a student team which simulated a briefing on U.S. foreign policy. Professor John Gaddis — who co-teaches the "Studies in Grand Strategy" class with Paul Kennedy, Charles Hill, and John Negroponte — invited McCain to make the surprise classroom visit.
Students in the class research a topic and then present a policy objective as if they were addressing high-level Cabinet officers in Washington, D.C. Here, team members (standing, from left) Xan Tanner, Benjamin Preminger, and Aaron Feuer present their policy recommendations. The other member of the team was Teddy Collins.
The student team and McCain vigorously debated the pros and cons of military intervention in Syria. The senator called the situation there a "humanitarian crisis," claiming that 25,000 people have been massacred by government forces. "How many people have to die before we intervene?" he asked the students.
Before the class, McCain took a tour of the campus. Here he is seen visiting Old Campus with alumni Maggie Goodlander ’09 and Vance Serchuk ’11 LAW, both foreign policy advisers to U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman. ’64, '67 LAW.
Along the way, McCain obliged students who were eager to have their picture taken with the senator and former presidential candidate.
McCain was also approached by members of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, who wanted to greet and take pictures with him.
McCain was especially touched while viewing the inscriptions in the Woolsey Hall rotunda of the names of fallen U.S. soldiers from Yale.
He paused to read the names of those who died in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
In the Hall of Graduate Studies, McCain had a word with Professor John Gaddis before making his surprise entrance in the Grand Strategy class. Gaddis later praised the student presenters for maintaining their poise in the presence of their unexpected visitor.
President Richard C. Levin (center) and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal '73 LAW (D-CT) speak with McCain at a reception following his classroom visit.
When a team of students presented a brief outlining their U.S. foreign policy recommendations in response to the "Arab Spring" uprisings, it had no idea that a surprise visitor would drop in and offer some feedback. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) visited the "Studies in Grand Strategy" class on Oct. 1 and critiqued the students' simulated policy briefing.
