J. William Fulbright was, at the time he wrote The Arrogance of Power, serving his fourth term in the Senate and was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Under Fulbright's leadership the committee conducted extensive inquiries into American policy in Vietnam, America's relations with China, and America's relations with North Atlantic allies. The Arrogance of Power is based on ideas Fulbright put forth famously at a series of lectures at Johns Hopkins University in the spring of 1966.