12:00: Special programming: 'Grace Under Fire: Reflections From Combat in Viet Nam'
1:00: Open to Debate: ‘Government as Shareholder: Proactive Competitive Strategy or Last Resort?’
In the first hour, Bill Schiebler, Army Ranger and decorated veteran, shares inspiring stories from his remarkable combat experiences in Viet Nam during 1965-66. Schiebler was a first lieutenant sent to fight in the central highlands of Viet Nam with the First Air Cavalry Division. After five months of ferocious combat, Schiebler was one of just four soldiers left from the 186 men who were part of his original rifle company. Schiebler was wounded over 10 times, receiving the Bronze Star for Valor and four Purple Hearts. Schiebler's story centers on a powerful through-line: kindness, forgiveness and discovering shared humanity in the most brutal circumstances imaginable.
Then in the second hour, as global powers increasingly shape markets and take equity positions in strategic industries, the United States is facing renewed questions about its traditionally hands-off approach to the economy. Some argue there is a middle path, where government can take a proactive stake in critical sectors before a crisis, thus strengthening national competitiveness without sliding into so-called state capitalism or undermining the free-market principles of American democracy. Others claim that government intervention should remain a true last resort, preserving a system that allows markets to determine winners and losers while guarding against dependency, inefficiency, unhealthy cronyism, and favoritism toward certain industries. This program features:
- Laura Taylor-Kale, senior fellow for geoeconomics and defense at the Council of Foreign Relations, and former assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy
- Richard Falkenrath, senior fellow for national security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and MJ Chung Distinguished Chair at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
- Bob Pozen, distinguished senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and former president of Fidelity Investments
- Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation professor of global economics and management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of "The Rise and the Fall of the EAST”
Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates.
As part of a collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations, this program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.
