Areas of Expertise

Biographical Highlights

Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Constantine C Menges, Ph.D., passed away on July 11 from complications of cancer. He was 64 years of age.

His foreign policy experience included public service as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and at the CIA as a National Intelligence Officer. He was a scholar, author, and a university professor.

His responsibilities in the government included the design of several major successful foreign policy strategies. For example, Menges devised strategies to counter Soviet political warfare/indirect aggression and to encourage transitions to democracy abroad.

From 1990 to 2000, Menges was a professor at The George Washington University, where he founded and directed the Program on Transitions to Democracy. His work on democratic transitions included the post-communist states, Iraq/Iran, and the Americas. He also began a project on U.S. relations with Russia and China and the new Russia-China alignment, which he continued at Hudson.

His professional work also included experience in domestic policy issues, having served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education and as Assistant Director for Civil Rights in the former federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Menges traveled extensively in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and Latin America. In 1961, he helped individuals escape as the Berlin Wall was being built. In 1963, he worked in Mississippi as a volunteer for equal voting rights. In 1968 Menges was in Czechoslovakia helping the non-violent civic resistance following the Soviet-led invasion. He speaks French, German, Spanish, and Russian.

After receiving his B.A. from Columbia College, Menges earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in international relations, with emphasis on the Soviet Union and Germany.

Publications and Media Exposure

A frequent contributor to national and international media, Menges appeared on all the major networks as well as a number of European and Latin American major media outlets including the BBC. His articles appeared in publications such as Commentary, National Review, The New Republic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. His books include: Spain: The Struggle for Democracy (1979), Inside the National Security Council (1988), The Future of Germany and the Atlantic Alliance (1991), Transitions from Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe (1994), Partnerships for Peace, Democracy and Prosperity (1997), and The Marshall Plan From Those Who Made It Succeed (1999). At the time of his death, he had just completed the manuscript for a new book entitled: China, The Gathering Threat - The Strategic challenge of China and Russia.

Articles & Publications by Constantine C. Menges