How it Works
Choose one of 17 topics to be presented virtually, via zoom, or in-person by one of our world-class historians to your staff, clients or even family and friends. Presentations run for one hour and include a Q&A session with the historian. Two weeks ahead of your presentation date, you’ll receive an email introduction to your historian along with suggested reading.
To schedule a Historian Speakers Bureau presentation or for additional information, contact us at speakersbureau@nationalww2museum.org or call 504-528-1944 x 458.
Topics
Leadership in World War II
This topic will examine key leaders in the American government, military, and private sector, showing how they contributed to Allied victory through political, military, and economic strategies and decisions taken from boardrooms to the battlefields. This lecture can be tailored to address strategic military/political/industrial leaders or custom-made to discuss tactical level commanders from various campaigns.
Liberation and the Legacy of World War II
This topic will examine how WWII continues to shape our modern world by examining its legacies regarding politics, genocide, civil rights, economic arrangements, and science and technology.
The Arsenal of Democracy: American Industry and Victory in World War II
This topic will examine the role American industry and home front played in the Allied victory, and how the nation mobilized its manpower and natural resources to create what President Franklin Roosevelt called the “mighty arsenal of democracy.”
The Road to Tokyo: War in the Pacific
Designed to reflect the museum’s “Campaigns of Courage” exhibit, this topic focuses on the conflict between the US and Japan in the Pacific. It will address the existing tensions between the two countries leading to the events at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the brutal nature of war in the Pacific, and the difficulties of fighting and operating in such an expansive area on the fringes of empire.
The Road to Berlin: War in Europe
Designed to reflect the museum’s “Campaigns of Courage” exhibit, this topic will examine the story of the American military’s major campaigns in Europe against Nazi Germany from 1942-1945, including the Allied strategy through the campaigns in North Africa, Italy, France, and into the German homeland.
D-Day in Normandy
This topic will focus upon the Allied landings on D-Day in Normandy. The preparations, planning, specific events, and highlights of June 6, 1944 will be featured, explaining why this battle was the fight the Allies had to win for victory in World War II.
Louisiana in World War II
This topic will tell the story of Louisiana’s special experience during wartime and focuses on the state’s contributions to the defeat of fascism and the Allied victory through industrial output, military service, and home front labor.
The Holocaust
This lecture will give a brief overview of Nazi racial ideology and explain how it played out on the ground in Eastern Europe in two phases: the Holocaust by bullets and the mechanized murder of the Jewish population in extermination camps. Other groups targeted for extermination such as Sinti, Roma, and the mentally and physically disabled may also be examined upon request.
The Atomic Bomb
This topic will examine the race to build the bomb that led to the American Manhattan Project, the major scientific and military challenges faced in building the bomb, and the decision to use the bomb against Japan at the war’s end.
The National World War II Museum
This topic will tell the story of The National World War II Museum, including its original inspiration from the Higgins boats built in New Orleans for the war, to the Museum’s founding as the D-Day Museum by the late Dr. Stephen Ambrose, and the Museum’s expansion and plans for the future.
Women in World War II
This topic will examine the military service experiences of women, how the war changed the roles of women within the American economy and society, and how these experiences initiated the postwar women’s liberation movement.
African Americans in World War II
This topic will examine the African American experience of segregation before the war, and explain how war provided new opportunities and raised expectations for African Americans. The experiences of African Americans in military training, service, and combat including civilians on the home front will be examined, setting the stage for postwar desegregation of the military and the civil rights movement.
The Jewish American Experience World War II
This topic will examine the experiences of Jewish Americans with immigration and antisemitism prior to World War II, their contributions to the war effort, and the impact of the war and the Nazi genocide on Jewish American communities.
The Native American Experience in World War II
This topic will examine briefly the experiences of Native American peoples with the US government prior to World War II, then cover their contributions to the war effort, especially the role played by the Code Talkers, and the impact of the war on Native American communities.
Asian American Experience in World War II
This topic will examine the contributions of Asian Americans to the war effort, the experiences of Japanese Americans with wartime incarceration, and the impact of the war on Asian American communities.
The Latino Experience in World War II
This topic will examine the contributions of Latinos and Latinas to the war effort, the impact of the war on these communities, and the impact of the war on civil and political rights.
Popular Culture in World War II
This topic will examine how the war and popular culture intersected in America. The roles of patriotism and propaganda to mobilize the citizenry will be examined with specific examples in movies, radio, music, newspapers, and other media.
Historians
Michael S. Bell, PhD (COL, USA, Ret.)
Mike Bell is the Executive Director of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. Commissioned in Armor following graduation from the US Military Academy at West Point, he is a combat veteran, historian, and strategist who has served at every level from platoon through theater army, as well as with US Central Command, the Joint Staff, the West Point faculty, and the National Defense University. As a civilian faculty member at the National Defense University, he also served details to the Office of the Secretary of State and as a National Security Council Senior Director and Special Assistant to the President of the United States. Bell holds an MA and PhD in American history from the University of Maryland College Park and an MS in national security strategy from the National Defense University, where he was a distinguished graduate of the National War College. His monograph on the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was published by the Strategic Studies Institute. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star, Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award, Joint Staff Badge, and Combat Action Badge.

Sean Scanlon, PhD
Sean Scanlon is a Military Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. He received his BA in history and religious studies from Stonehill College and his MA and PhD in history from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. A specialist in 20th-century US diplomatic, military, and political history, Scanlon has done research at six presidential libraries and is a member of both the American Jewish Historical Society and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. Before joining The National WWII Museum, Scanlon was a visiting assistant professor of history at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the University of Mississippi, where he taught a wide range of undergraduate courses in modern US history. He is proud to honor his three grandparents who served during World War II, including Thomas S. Scanlon Jr., who joined the US Army Air Forces in 1942 and retired from the US Air Force in 1971 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Bradley W. Hart, PhD
Bradley Hart is a Military Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. Hart earned his PhD in history from Churchill College at the University of Cambridge and is the author of two books, including Hitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States (2018), recipient of the 2019 German Studies Association Sybil Halpern Milton Memorial Book Prize. Hart has also published numerous articles on interwar politics, diplomacy, and intelligence history. His current research focuses on information warfare in World War II. Before joining the Institute, Hart taught at California State University, Fresno and worked as an international affairs fellow on Capitol Hill.

Haley Guepet
Haley Guepet is the Research Fellow at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. She is finalizing her PhD in medieval history at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, focusing on the role of ancient and medieval Danish women and queens in Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum. During her PhD, Guepet taught undergraduate courses on Vikings and humans’ relationship with the ocean. Prior to her PhD, she received a BA in history and English literature from Louisiana State University in 2016. She also received her JD in civil law from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2019 and is an attorney in Louisiana. Guepet is proud to honor her grandfathers Boyd P. Guepet Sr. and Robert “Top Todd” Todd Sr. and her great aunt Verna Heinrich who served during World War II.

Jeremy Collins
As a student pursuing his history degree at the University of Missouri, Jeremy Collins joined The National WWII Museum in 2001 as an intern with the Collections & Exhibits Department. In 2008, he moved to the Travel & Conference Department, which saw him scout, lead, or manage tours all over the world including the Philippines, the Mediterranean, England, and Northwest Europe.
A member of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, Collins also oversees the creation, planning, marketing, and execution of many of the Museum marquee public programs, including book launches, distinguished lectures, symposia, and the Museum’s annual International Conference on World War II.
Selected Articles:
"Everyone Has a Katrina Story”: 15 Years of Reflection
Private Joseph Pantillion Martínez: Medal of Honor Series
Operation Manna-Chowhound: Deliverance from Above

John Curatola, PhD
John Curatola is the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. A Marine Corps officer of 22 years, he graduated from the University of Nebraska and is a veteran of Operation Provide Hope in Somalia, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort. He holds master's degrees in both American and military history. With a PhD from the University of Kansas, John’s research focuses upon World War II, airpower, and the early Cold War period. Previously he taught history at the US Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His first book, Bigger Bombs for a Brighter Tomorrow, addressed the nature of the American atomic monopoly, and his latest, entitled Autumn of Our Discontent, assessed US national security policy development in 1950. Additionally, his works are available in compendium books, popular magazines, and academic journals with his many presentations available for viewing on CSPAN and YouTube.

Colombia A. Barrosse
After a 35-year career in the US Foreign Service, Colombia Barrosse returned to her native New Orleans to join The National WWII Museum as Executive Director of the Sanderson Leadership Center. As a diplomat, Barrosse engaged in democracy-building and strengthening of the rule of law in Latin America; providing strategic civilian support for US military in the Mediterranean; protecting American citizens during violent uprisings in the Caribbean; and managing international cultural, educational, and professional exchanges. Her Washington experience includes oversight of the design and implementation of an unbiased Foreign Service entrance exam, direction of global cultural programs, and service as Special Assistant to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Barrosse retired from the Foreign Service in 2024 with the rank of Minister Counselor, having been responsible for consular operations in support of COVID-19 recovery, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in France. She holds a BS in Biology and a JD from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.
