Lecture

Born in 1848, Arthur James Balfour was the scion of two great families, the Scottish Balfours and the English Cecils. 'AJB' became Prime Minister in 1902. Despite high hopes, his Government lasted only three years. Subsequently, after a stormy time as leader of the Opposition, Balfour resigned in 1911, thinking his career was near its end.

But he was quite wrong. Ahead lay the war years and a return to government--the Admiralty, the Foreign Office, the Balfour Declaration, the Pa

R. J. Q. Adams received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is Peters Professor of History at Texas AandM University. His books include Europe, 1890-1945: Crisis and Conflict (2003), Bonar Law (1999), and British Politics and Foreign Policy in the Age of Appeasement, 1935-1939 (1993). His newest work, Balfour: The Last Grandee, will be published in November 2007. He is now writing a book about the world of George V.