Mara Oliva argues that we need to think differently about ordinary Americans' views and the making of their nation's foreign policy.

Mara has spent countless hours in US presidential archives examining how public opinion was assessed and understood in several administrations. In this talk she compares her research into the series of crises in East and South-East Asia from the 1940s to the 1970s - Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and China - to the Middle East today. She argues that the American public then and now took a more nuanced and cautious approach towards foreign policy than political leaders.

Producer: Giles Edwards.