Patrick Leech

Ph.D. Candidate and Teacher of Record

man in glasses smiling at camera with a bowtie

Advisor

Dr. Julie deGraffenried

Education

M.A., History, Texas A&M University-Central Texas, 2017

B.A., History, Abilene Christian University, 2006

Research Interests

My work focuses on the political and cultural factors that form shape global interactions during the Cold War. As such my dissertation, “Hungarians Over Here: Diaspora, Refugees, and US Cold War Politics” looks at how diaspora participated in a global Cold War by examining the response of the Hungarian American community to the resettlement of Hungarian refugees after the failed 1956 Uprising. In that moment we find Hungarians as both the recipients of a global relief effort and key contributors to the success of those efforts. Drawing upon diaspora newspapers, my project focuses on the role of diaspora institutions—Hungarian civic and cultural organizations—as active participants in local events with global consequences and global events with local effects. During the immediate refugee crisis, these institutions mobilized the Hungarian American community for participation in resettlement work at home and abroad. Afterwards, those same institutions worked to pressure policymakers for preferred outcomes on issues like immigration, US-Hungarian relations, and the status of Hungary in the United Nations, by using Cold War rhetoric to link their status as Cold War “freedom fighters” with “Americanness.”

Fields: Global Cold War, Russia & Eastern Europe, US since 1877

Selected Publications

"The Unhappiest Barrack in the Soviet Bloc: Church-State Relations in Hungary," in Speaking for Trust: A Festschrift for Rev. Michael Bourdeaux, Michael Long, Julie deGraffenried, & Xenia Dennen, eds. (TBD)

Selected Activities

Awards/Fellowships/Grants

Fullbright US Student Program, Research Award, Hungary, 2023-2024
Department of State Program for Research and Training on Eastern Europe and Eurasia (Title VIII) Fellowship, Summer 2022
Fundamentals of Data Research Fellowship, Baylor University Library, Summer 2020

Other Information

Before starting at Baylor, I worked for over a decade in information technology and information security. During that time, I was also blessed to serve as an adjunct instructor for two years at different institutions. That experience convinced me that I wanted to pursue an academic career. As result of these experiences, I have a strong interest in digital humanities, the value of history, and in the theory and method of teaching history. My wife and I enjoy travelling and have several horses, dogs, and cats.

While in Hungary, I will be working on a digital history project, “The Post-1956 Refugee Crisis and Hungarian Émigré Communities During the Cold War,” that aims to provide a systematic and comprehensive examination of the migration and subsequent fate of some two hundred thousand people who left Hungary in 1956/57 as a result of the Soviet invasion. More information is available on the project website.

Additionally, I am currently serving as a Graduate Student Co-Representative to the Conference on Faith and History Board. If you have questions or suggestions about CFH and how it serves its graduate student members please let me know.