Sandra Scanlon

Sandra Scanlon is a lecturer in American history in the UCD School of History. Sandra's research focuses on American political culture and its relationship with US foreign policy during the Cold War. She explores the intersection between political movements, most notably conservative activism, and developments in foreign policy ideologies. In particular, her research considers the extent to which conservative activists succeeded in utilizing American national identity and popular understanding of American exceptionalism to promote support for the Vietnam War and to challenge detente and Realpolitik in US foreign policy. Furthermore, she examines how domestic political cultures can shape policymakers' efforts to sell international initiatives to the American people.

Her first book, The Pro-War Movement: Domestic Support for the Vietnam War and the Making of Modern American Conservatism, was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2013. Her article on this subject, 'The Conservative Lobby and Nixon's "Peace with Honor" in Vietnam,' was published by the Journal of American Studies in August 2009. Sandra is also interested in transatlantic relations during the Cold War and has co-edited a collection of essays, Reform and Renewal: Transatlantic Relations during the 1960s and 1970s (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).
Sandra is currently working on a study of the conservative movement, white identity, and American intersections with Africa during the Cold War.

Sandra completed bachelor's and master's degrees at University College Dublin, and received her doctorate from Cambridge University, where she was the recipient of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She has since lectured and held fellowships at Oxford University, the University of Sheffield, University College Dublin and, most recently, at the London School of Economics. During 2013, she was a Fulbright Scholar at Emory University and returned as a Visiting Associate Professor during 2018-19.