Major General Melvin Spiese will visit Hillsdale College for the fourth year in a row to give a one-credit course on post-Cold War national security in the U.S. for the Military Strategy minor beginning next week. The class will run from 3-5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Feb. 24 to March 7.

Spiese retired from the Marine Corps after 36 years of service in 2013. He said the class will spend time studying the national security plans of each administration since World War II to gain the best understanding of strategy in national security.

“We’ll try to give a synopsis of each president and then look at specific cases to see where certain administrations followed through and where they fell short,” Spiese said.

Spiese said the class becomes more in-depth when it reaches the midway point of Reagan’s presidency. From there, he said students will learn how major Cold War events influence strategy even today.

“For the first time, by the National Defense Authorization Act, Reagan was required to publish a national security plan, and it ended up being a good synopsis of the Cold War up to that point,” Spiese said. “We are able to look at major events — NATO, Germany being admitted to NATO, and occupations in the Middle East — all of which inform the way we shape our outlines today.”

Spiese said the United States faces similar problems today as it did during the Cold War, but there are some unfortunate sticking points in the military apparatus.

“There seemed to be some consistency and coordination on strategy between administrations during the Cold War,” Spiese said. “Now, the whole thing is in disarray.”

Spiese said the class will also explore the rise of other superpowers, like China and Russia, since the fall of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. Even military disasters like the drawn out wars in the Middle East and the evacuation from Afghanistan are teachers.

Junior Hudson Jones said Spiese’s class is well worth a two-week time investment for anyone interested in 20th century history.

“General Spiese’s course is a thorough and truthful analysis of the different national security strategies set forth over the last 40 years,” Jones said.

Ultimately, Spiese said, the class will ask what the next generation of national security leaders might learn from the past.

“Hillsdale College does a lot in the way of policy,” Spiese said. “I’d like to see if there might be room for Hillsdale students and graduates to influence US national security, too.”