John Lewis Gaddis holds the Robert A. Lovett Professorship of Military and Naval History at Yale University. He is a noted historian of the Cold War and writes often on contemporary issues. He is also the official biographer of the seminal 20th century statesman George F. Kennan.

He is best known for arguing that Stalin's personality and role in history was one of the most important causes of the Cold War. He received his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.

Works:

• The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947 - (1972, 2d ed., 2000)
• Russia, the Soviet Union, and the United States: An Interpretive History - (1978, 2d ed., 1990)
• Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy - (1982)
• The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War - (1987)
• The United States and the End of the Cold War: Reconsiderations, Implications, Provocations - (1992)
• We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History - (1997) ISBN 0198780710
• The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past - (2002)
• Surprise, Security, and the American Experience - (2004)