Henry Tonks

Henry Tonks entered the PhD program in 2019, after earning an MA in History at the University of Missouri–Columbia. He studies twentieth-century U.S. political history under Professor Bruce Schulman. Henry’s dissertation project, “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: Remaking American Liberalism in an Age of Crisis, 1972-1992”, is concerned with how modern liberalism was reshaped at the intersection of globalization, national industrial decline, and electoral realignment. Henry’s research focuses on evolving debates over industrial policy within the Democratic Party during this period. Reconsidering a popular narrative of Democrats simply shifting to the right since the 1970s, “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” emphasizes reformation rather than transformation within modern American liberalism, tracing liberals’ durable commitment to pursuing economic growth through public-private partnerships and state intervention in the market.

Henry’s work and research has been supported by the Dirksen Congressional Center, the Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the BU Initiative on Cities, and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. He has previously held internships or fellowships at the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston and at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Henry’s work has appeared in Public Books, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Public Seminar, Time, The Washington Post, and Pacific and American Studies. Prior to starting graduate school, Henry worked in politics and in local government at a business improvement district (BID) in his hometown of Birmingham, UK.