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Matthew Frakes

Assistant Professor
Matthew Frakes Headshot

Bio 

Matthew A. Frakes is a historian of U.S. foreign relations and national security and Assistant Professor in the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University. His research and teaching focus on understanding the evolution of the United States’ role in the world and how American leaders have framed their strategies and made decisions at moments of global change.

He earned a PhD in history from the University of Virginia. He also holds master’s degrees in international history from Columbia University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University. Prior to joining the Chase Center at The Ohio State University, he was an America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

He is the author of two forthcoming books on the transformations to U.S. foreign relations and national security strategy from the end of the Cold War to the War on Terror. His first book, Rogue States: The Making of America’s Global War on Terror (Cornell University Press, March 2026), examines the origins of post–Cold War strategy in response to the emerging transnational security threats of rogue states, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction from the early Reagan years to the aftermath of the Gulf War. His second book, Grenada 1983: American Resurgence towards the End of the Cold War (Osprey, May 2026), reveals how the U.S. invasion of Grenada under President Reagan reshaped the U.S. approach to using military force in the post–Cold War world.

Courses Taught

CIVICLL 2110: American Creeds and Conflicts (spring 2026)

Areas of Expertise

  • U.S. diplomatic, political, and military history
  • U.S. national security strategy
  • 20th and 21st century international history
  • Presidential leadership, decision-making, and elections
  • World Wars, Cold War, and War on Terror
  • Terrorism and counterterrorism