- Emailfrakes.20@osu.edu
- Office
Room 5048 174 W. 18th St. Columbus, OH 43210
Bio
Dr. Matthew A. Frakes is a historian of U.S. foreign relations and national security. 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 an MA in History from the University of Virginia, an MSc in International and World History from the London School of Economics, an MA in International and World History from Columbia University, and an AB in History from Princeton University. Before joining the Chase Center, 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 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, 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 toward the End of the Cold War (Osprey, 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 3550 Presidential Crises in War and Peace
- CIVICLL 2120 American Civic Traditions
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