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On Tuesday, April 4, Professor Christian Appy of the Department of History will be awarded the Chancellor's Medal as part of the 2017 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series. This award is the highest recognition given to UMass faculty and will be awarded at the conclusion of Professor Appy's lecture, "The Atomic Origins of America’s National Security State: How Nuclear Weapons Produced an Imperial Presidency and Degraded Democracy."

In his talk, Professor Appy will discuss how the 1946 Atomic Energy Act created presidential powers not originally assigned by the constitution, an ultimately undemocratic model. He argues that nuclear weapons, which have been intertwined with American secrecy and power since the Manhattan Project, have also led to other kinds of unchecked power, manifesting in citizen surveillance, international bombings, and congressional military circumvention.

Professor Appy, whose research and publications focus primarily on modern United States history and the Vietnam War, was awarded the Massachusetts Book Award for Non-Fiction in 2004.

This lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the event.