October 2021
Ronald Reagan Institute Announces the Inaugural George P. Shultz Fellow: Dr. Frances Burke
The Ronald Reagan Institute, the Washington, D.C. office of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute (RRPFI) is excited to announce the inaugural George P. Shultz fellowship, in celebration of the 60th U.S. Secretary of State who passed away this year at the age of 100. Shultz Fellows will focus on President Reagan’s foreign and economic policy, particularly those areas central to the secretary’s legacy, such as support for freedom abroad, human rights and democracy promotion. The Shultz Fellowship is possible because of the generosity of philanthropist Tad Taube, a longtime friend of Secretary Shultz, The Taube grant will provide five years of support to the fellowship.
The inaugural recipient, Frances Tilney Burke, is a historian who will use the George P. Shultz Fellowship to research President Reagan’s “freedom agenda” in Latin America. Ms. Burke will receive her PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University where she is completing a dissertation titled, “Why We Went: A History of the Decision to Invade Iraq in 2003.” Ms. Burke received a Master of Philosophy in Latin American Studies from Oxford University and completed her undergraduate degree in History and Literature at Harvard University. She served in a number of roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Defense Intelligence Agency during the George W. Bush administration and subsequent Obama administration, and also served as an intelligence officer with the United States Navy Reserve. She hopes her work “will provide a more nuanced record of Reagan’s foreign policy in Latin America than the ‘at all costs’ anticommunist agenda commonly described by historians.” Burke continued, “As a historian of U.S. foreign relations and international security, I’m especially honored to accept a fellowship named for a man who stands at the center of my research project and bridged the gap between public service and academia.” Ms Burke is married to an active-duty Army officer with whom she has four children.
