Burrus Carnahan
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington D.C. (see map here)
6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)
7 pm: Dinner ($30 for dinner and lecture)
8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)
7 pm: Dinner ($30 for dinner and lecture)
8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)
Reservations required: Call (703) 578-1942
TOPIC:
"Lincoln and the Law of War"
TOPIC:
"Lincoln and the Law of War"
I don’t know anything about the law of nations,” Lincoln confessed to Thaddeus Stevens in 1861. International law, then called the law of nations, was one set of ideas Lincoln set out to master while President. By 1863 he had thoroughly mastered the principles of international law and, in particular, the law of war as it then existed. Dr. Carnahan's presentation will focus on Lincoln's ability to explain important legal concepts in plain language that was accessible to military officers as well as the American public, most notably in defense of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Burrus M. ("Buzz") Carnahan is a Foreign Affairs Officer at the US Department of State and a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University in Washington DC. His JD degree is from Northwestern University (1969) and he holds an LLM from the University of Michigan (1974). From 1969 to 1989, Dr. Carnahan served as a Judge Advocate in the US Air Force, specializing in international legal issues. From 1974 to 1978, he was an Associate Professor of Law at the US Air Force Academy.
The author of two books and numerous articles on Abraham Lincoln, international law, and the law of war, Dr. Carnahan has spoken on Lincoln and his era at the Abraham Lincoln Institute at the National Archives, the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute, Robert Lincoln’s Hildene in Vermont, the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, and many other venues. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Lincoln Forum and in 2012 was appointed to the Scholarly Advisory Group for President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home for a two year term.
