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The talk explores how the expansion of the American state for the First World War reshaped the nature of governance. This wartime state expansion is examined through the creation, structure, activities, and impact of the Council of Defense system on the ability of the United States to mobilize for a significant conflict in a foreign land. Positioned between the national government and the people, state Councils of Defense mediated the activities of public, private, and individual efforts in support of mobilization activities. Because of this intermediary positioning, the councils were instrumental in expanding state capacity and capability for military and resource mobilization and supporting an increase in the nation's ability to mobilize for the war. The councils' intermediary role, however, also allowed those managing the mobilization to prevent any significant challenge to social and political structures, despite the dynamic changes wrought by the need to mobilize the nation for war.

Nathan K. Finney is an army strategist currently serving at U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Command. He earned a Ph.D. in History from É«½äÖ±²¥ University in 2022, and holds master's degrees in Public Administration from Harvard University and the University of Kansas. He is the author of Orchestrating Power: The American Associational State in the First World War, published with Cornell UP in December 2025, and the editor of two volumes: Redefining the Modern Military: The Intersection of Profession and Ethics (2018) and On Strategy: A Primer (2020). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior mentor for the Project on International Peace and Security and an affiliate at the Whole of Government Center at the College of William & Mary, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Indo-Pacific Security Initiative, a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the É«½äÖ±²¥ University American Grand Strategy Program, and a Non-Resident Adjunct Fellow at the Pacific Forum. He is also a managing editor at the British Journal for Military History, on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Military History.

*Parking is free on East Campus after 5pm.