As a Twentieth Century Americanist, Dr. Jensen's teaching and research investigates the confluence of several historical forces in recent American history: presidential leadership and Cold War civil rights reform; the African American pursuit for civil rights reform; war or even the threat of potential Cold War conflict and how that shaped the country; the omnipresent influence of the American south on domestic, foreign policyand military affairs of the United States; and the rise of conspiracy, conspiratorial rhetoric, and the power it wielded in Twentieth Century American society. As a scholar, he haspresented his research on several different occasions and has authored over a dozen book reviews for H-War (H-Net),The Journal of Military History,The Journal of Southern History and The Strategy Bridge.
In the last seven years, Dr.Jensen produced three different volumes that highlight my scholarly interests. His most recent work, The Racial Integration of the American Armed Forces: Cold War Necessity, Presidential Leadership, and Southern Resistance (Kansas, 2023) examines the intersection of these forces as it applies to the racial desegregation of the American military during the volatile years of the Cold War.As opposed to past studies that largely discuss the situation from the viewpoint of the trials and tribulations of African American military personnel or those within the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement who were desperate to use the armed forces as a social and political laboratory, heexamines the topic from that of the perspective of the necessity of waging the Cold War, how that motivated, in part, American presidents to actand how southerners fearful of the military becoming a trojan horse for racial and societal reform within their own region and its racial zeitgeist grabbed onto the strings of various Cold War conspiratorial beliefs to knit together a challenge against the reform effort.
Prior to this, hepublished with Dr. Matthew Stith (University of Texas at Tyler),Beyond the Quagmire: New Interpretations of the Vietnam War(2019).An edited volume, Beyond the Quagmire offers new interpretations of various subjects involving the American War in Vietnam and includes, but is not limited to, discussions over race, the environment, the War on Poverty, memory, geography, politics, genderand the role of women in the war.Within this study, hepenned a chapter on the often-criticized Project 100,000, a Lyndon Johnson War on Society era program originally designed to aid the American poor through Cold War military service.
In 2016, Dr.JensenproducedThe Routledge Handbook of the History of Race and the American Military(2016; paperback 2018), which is comprised of twenty essays exploring various aspects of race and the American military.In that collection, heauthored a chapter on Harry S. Truman and Executive Order 9981, which began the racial transformation of the American military during the early throes of the Cold War.
Lastly, Dr.Jensen isalso a former West Point Seminar Fellow, whose research has been generously supported by grants from Embry-Riddleand the Lyndon B. Johnson and Harry S. Truman presidential libraries.
Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in History, University of Arkansas
PROFESSIONAL TALKS
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
[Online] Roundtable with select authors of Beyond the Quagmire, “1970-71: Nixon, Discord, and the US Withdrawal from Vietnam”, Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, 2021
[Chair] “The Citizen-Soldier”, The Society for Military History Annual Meeting, 2019
“War as a driving force of History. 19th and 20th Centuries.” The 14th Conference of the Spanish Association of Contemporary History, Alicante, Spain, 2018
“The Tragedy of the Triumvirate: Project 100,000 ”, “Waging Peace” Conference, Dale Center for the Study of War and Society, The University of Southern Mississippi, 2016
“‘It is without question our shining opportunity’: The Perplexing Perception of Project 100,000”, The Society for Military History Annual Meeting, 2015
“The War on Poverty meets the Vietnam Conflict: Project 100,000”, Policy History Conference, 2014
“Presidential Prerogative: A Comparison of Lincoln and Truman’s Civil Rights Reforms in the Military”, The Society for Military History Annual Meeting, 2013
“Getting in the Way of the Action: Kennedy, the Cold War, and Civil Rights Reform in the Military”, The Society for Military History Annual Meeting, 2011
“Waging the War on Poverty: Project 100,000”, Arkansas Association of College History Teachers Annual Meeting, 2010
“Through the Specter of Communism: Truman, Southern Segregationists, and the Integration of the Armed Forces”, Session: Segregation and Integration in the American Military,
Missouri Valley Historical Conference, 2010
[Chair] "Matters of Race and Media", Louisiana Historical Association Annual Conference, 2009
INVITED LECTURES
“What is Leadership?” Guest Speaker, Army ROTC Ball, ݮƵ, Prescott, AZ, 2022
“What is History?” Scholarly Speaking, ݮƵ, Prescott, AZ, 2017
“On the Prowl: The Black Panthers of the 761st and their Crusade in Europe”, Faculty Research Presentation, ݮƵ, Prescott, AZ, 2014. Available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP0RFgwv3mY
Fellow presentation, “Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Red Menace, Truman, Southern Segregationists, and the Desegregation of the Armed Forces”, West Point Summer Seminar, USMA, 2012
"The First African American Students at the University of Arkansas", Washington County Historical Lecture Series, 2007
MANUSCRIPT REFEREE AND COMMENTATOR
The University Press of Kansas
The University of North Texas Press
The University of Massachusetts Press
Arkansas Historical Quarterly
TEXTBOOK ADVISOR
I have reviewed textbooks for Bedford/St. Martin’s, Cengage, MacMillan, Pearson, and Oxford University Press.
Professional affiliations:
The Society for Military History
Army Historical Foundation
The Southern Historical Association
TEACHING AWARDS
ݮƵ, Student Government Association, Faculty of the Semester, Fall 2013
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AND RESEARCH AWARDS
ݮƵ, College of Security and Intelligence, Researcher of the Year, 2015-16
ݮƵ, Faculty Development Fund Grant, 2013-2014, 2015, 2016
ݮƵ, Internal Research Grant, 2013-2014
United States Military Academy (West Point), West Point Summer Seminar Fellow, 2012
Harry S. Truman Library Institute, Research Grant, 2010
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, Moody Research Grant, 2008