Jonathan Ng

Jonathan Ng joined the Center for Presidential History in August 2022. His book project, The Unquenchable Fire: The Arms Trade and Reproduction of the U.S. Empire, 1960-1988, illuminates the influence of military contractors on foreign policy, as well as the legacy of U.S. interventionism since the Vietnam War. One of the first multi-archival histories of the arms trade, his research demonstrates that foreign clients repeatedly saved firms from bankruptcy, underwrote weapons development, and became vital links in a global military-industrial complex.

Ng received his Ph.D. in U.S. history from Northwestern University and, previously, was the Jay T. Walker Postdoctoral Fellow in U.S. and Global History at the University of Tulsa. He is a passionate teacher, encouraging students to democratize the classroom and sharpen their critical faculties. He has contributed articles to both popular and scholarly journals, including Diplomatic History, and enjoys helping students of U.S. foreign policy understand the inextricable relationship between the past and present.