Read more about Samantha Power, influencer of Obama's Libya policy

The human-rights activist as presidential adviser

Samantha Power

The New York Times reports that Samantha Power, J.D. '99—former executive director of the Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, and now at the National Security Council—has an important influence on President Barack Obama's policy toward U.S. military involvement in Libya. 

Read Jennifer Leaning's review of Power's acclaimed book, "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide. Harvard Magazine also published "Fixing Foreign Policy," an essay adapted from Power's 2005-2006 Maurine and Robert Rothschild Lecture (delivered under the auspices of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study)—a critique of the country's international engagements at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Finally, Power's Harvard Law School Class Day address from 2010 is available as well.

Related topics

You might also like

Chan School of Public Health Department Chair Departs for UCLA

Kari Nadeau, an environmental health leader, will serve as the dean of the Fielding School of Public Health.

Department of Education Investigates Harvard Admissions and Antisemitism Claims

The University calls federal actions “retaliatory.” 

Trump Administration Sues Harvard over Civil Rights

The March 20 suit seeks to rescind research grants that were restored in an earlier court ruling.

Most popular

One of Harvard’s Oldest Structures Is Hiding Behind a Beer Garden

A crumbling wall in Harvard Square holds centuries of the city’s story, if you know how to read it.

Radcliffe Acquires a Black Feminist’s Archive

An architect of Black women’s studies, Barbara Smith introduced the concepts of “identity politics” and “intersectionality.”

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files.

Explore More From Current Issue

Modern campus collage: Rubenstein Treehouse Conference Center, One Milestone labs, Verra apartment, and co-working space.

The Enterprise Research Campus in Allston Nears Completion

A hotel, restaurants, and other retail establishments are open or on the way.

A person climbs a curved ladder against a colorful background and four vertical ladders.

Harvard’s Productivity Trap

What happened to doing things for the sake of enjoyment?

A woman in a black blazer holds a bottle of beer.

Introductions: Mallika Monteiro

A conversation with a beer industry executive