Speaker – Derek Leebaert The British Empire remained a superpower at least until 1957. But the re-elected Eisenhower administration then proclaimed ‘a declaration ofindependence’ from British authority. The years in between are freighted withmyths: Britain’s ‘withdrawal from the Mediterranean’; the influence of GeorgeKennan’s view of Britain within the U.S. government; and Britain and thebeginning of the war in Vietnam. Knowing what actually occurred is vital tounderstanding questions of Britain and the United States in the postwar era,in Middle East destabilization, in the history of the rise and decline ofsuperpowers—and, not least, Brexit. Derek Leebaert’s books include Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of AmericanForeign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan (2010); To Dare and to Conquer:Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations from Achilles to Al Qaeda(2006); and The Fifty-Year Wound: How America’s Cold War Victory Shapes OurWorld (2002). He is a former Smithsonian Fellow; a founding editor ofInternational Security, and a founder of the National Museum of the U.S. Army.He is a partner in the global management consulting firm MAP AG (Zurich).