In Memoriam: Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

The Council on Foreign Relations mourns the passing of Joseph S. Nye, Jr., who died last Tuesday at the age of 88.

As many of you know, Joe was a key member of the CFR community, a prolific scholar, a mentor, and a giant of U.S. foreign policy.

No obituary could fully capture Joe’s contributions to the field of international relations and the American project—yet I am reminded of them constantly, and now more than ever. He will be remembered, of course, as the man who coined the term “soft power,” but more importantly, as a uniquely gifted grand strategist who understood how to leverage every component of the United States’ national power on a global scale.

At Harvard and CFR, as a senior policymaker in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as chair of the National Intelligence Council, and in the pages of Foreign Affairs, Joe not only formulated much of the basis for modern U.S. foreign policy—including, well before it was in vogue, the need to focus on the Indo-Pacific as the key theater of the post–Cold War era—he also mentored a generation of rising scholars, military officers, and policymakers. I was lucky to be among them. So too were many of our fellow members, CFR fellows, and staff.

Joe’s intellectual rigor, commitment to U.S. international leadership, and selfless cultivation of future generations of U.S. foreign policy experts embody CFR’s founding ethos and enduring mission. His direct service to CFR, over the course of more than five decades, was likewise tremendous. Joe became a CFR life member in 1970, served on CFR’s Board of Directors from 2004 to 2013, and was the chair or member of several committees, including the Executive Committee, Committee on Studies, Committee on Development, Arthur Ross Book Award Nominating Committee, and the Center for Geoeconomic Studies Advisory Committee. He chaired the 2015 Task Force on a rising India and served on four other CFR Task Forces, most recently the Task Force on cyberspace in 2022. Joe was also a prodigious contributor to Foreign Affairs—well into his eighties—penning many of the magazine’s most influential articles on a wide range of issues from cybersecurity to arms control to grand strategy. And stretching all the way back to President Nixon’s first year in office, Joe spoke at and presided over countless CFR events.

I am particularly pleased that we were able to honor Joe’s lifetime of accomplishments in a special 2024 conversation about his memoir on the American century with our Board Chair David M. Rubenstein.

Joe’s wisdom will be sorely missed here at CFR and beyond. Please join me and the entire CFR team in extending our condolences to Joe’s family, friends, and colleagues. May his memory be a blessing.

Mike