Andrew Johns

Dr. Andrew L. Johns, Professor of History, received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2000 and joined the faculty at Brigham Young University in 2004. His research focuses on U.S. foreign relations during the Cold War, with a particular interest in the presidency, the relationship between domestic politics and foreign policy, and the constitutional “invitation to struggle” between the executive and legislative branches. He is the author or editor of six books, including, most recently, The Price of Loyalty: Hubert Humphrey’s Vietnam Conflict (2020). His current research includes a history of U.S. post-conflict diplomacy since 1783; a study of the constitutional implications of the aggregation of executive power; a reconsideration of Richard Nixon’s “madman theory” through the lens of poker; and a global history of 1972.

In addition to his scholarship, Dr. Johns has served as editor of Passport: The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Review since 2011; has held elected office for the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the Society for History in the Federal Government, and the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association (including as president in 2018-2019); is general editor of the “Studies in Conflict, Diplomacy, and Peace” book series, published by the University Press of Kentucky; and is the founding donor for the PCB-AHA’s Tonous and Warda Johns Family Book Award, which recognizes the outstanding monograph or edited volume in the history of U.S. foreign relations, military history, or immigration history.

Dr. Johns teaches courses on U.S. history, the Cold War, U.S. foreign relations, and the presidency.