20
March 2023
Past Event
Forty Years after President Reagan Unveiled the Strategic Defense Initiative

Forty Years after President Reagan Unveiled the Strategic Defense Initiative

Past Event
Online Only
March 20, 2023
heinrichs event
Caption
President Ronald Reagan giving a speech on SDI (Wikimedia Commons)
20
March 2023
Past Event
Speakers:
heinrichs
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs

Senior Fellow and Director, Keystone Defense Initiative

inboden
Will Inboden

Executive Director and William Powers, Jr. Chair, Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas

Listen to Event Audio

Forty years ago, on March 23, 1983, President Ronald Reagan addressed the American people to unveil “a vision of the future which offers hope,” namely, a program to counter the Soviet missile threat through defensive measures. Thus, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the missile defense system that ultimately helped the United States prevail over the Soviet Union, was born. SDI was born from Reagan’s disdain for mutual assured destruction, and to instead encourage advances in defenses.

Hudson Senior Fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative Director Rebeccah Heinrichs is joined by Will Inboden to discuss his new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink. They will also reflect on President Reagan’s visionary leadership for SDI as well as lessons for today’s major powers rivalry with the Chinese Communist Party.

Related Events
05
December 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Moldova’s Euro-Atlantic Path: Regional Security, Energy Opportunity, and Democratic Resilience
Featured Speakers:
Mihai Popșoi
Igor Grosu
Leah Kieff
Moderator:
Luke Coffey
Getty Images
05
December 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Moldova’s Euro-Atlantic Path: Regional Security, Energy Opportunity, and Democratic Resilience

Hudson’s Luke Coffey will host Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mihai Popșoi, Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament Igor Grosu, and Center for Strategic and International Studies Senior Associate Leah Kieff to examine the current political, security, and geopolitical situation in Moldova and the region going forward.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Mihai Popșoi
Igor Grosu
Leah Kieff
Moderator:
Luke Coffey
09
December 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
America’s Competitive Edge: Antitrust, Standards, and Intellectual Property for US Tech Leadership
Featured Speakers:
Dina Kallay
Urška Petrovčič
Getty Images
09
December 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
America’s Competitive Edge: Antitrust, Standards, and Intellectual Property for US Tech Leadership

Hudson will host an exclusive luncheon conversation with Dina Kallay, deputy assistant attorney general for international, policy and appellate at the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Dina Kallay
Urška Petrovčič
11
December 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Crowding in Capital: Modernizing the Department of War’s Financial Arsenal
Featured Speakers:
Rush Doshi
David Rader
Moderator:
Nadia Schadlow
Getty Images
11
December 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Crowding in Capital: Modernizing the Department of War’s Financial Arsenal

Join Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow and an expert panel for a discussion on the DoW’s financial tools, the extent of the department’s authorities, and the role it will play in the broader American reindustrialization effort.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Rush Doshi
David Rader
Moderator:
Nadia Schadlow
12
December 2025
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Antisemitism as a National Security Threat
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Can Kasapoğlu
Liel Leibovitz
Michael Sobolik
Getty Images
12
December 2025
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Antisemitism as a National Security Threat

Hudson’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East will convene policymakers, experts, and private sector leaders to examine how antisemitism, both foreign and domestic, threatens American security and Western civilization.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Can Kasapoğlu
Liel Leibovitz
Michael Sobolik