At Hoover Event, Mattis And Holiday Promote Stoicism To Counter Polarization And Uncertainty

Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) - Confronted with internal polarization, discontent, a rapidly changing economy, and turmoil in the Middle East, Americans should consider the appeal of Stoicism, according to Gen. Jim Mattis and Ryan Holiday, author and host of the Daily Stoic podcast.

Their discussion was part of the Hoover Institution's lecture series Ideas that Made U.S.: Dialogues on Freedom, with this session focusing on "the responsibilities of American leadership."

The conversation was moderated by Margaret Hoover, an Institution overseer, during a live taping of her PBS show Firing Linein Hauck Auditorium on March 18, 2026.

Hoover said writer and podcast host Holiday and former Defense Secretary Mattis appear to have little in common until their shared admiration of the Stoics is examined.

"The two of you to the uninitiated may seem like an odd couple in terms of your pairing, but the truth is that you have found one another in a shared passion for Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that emphasizes key virtues, courage, discipline, justice, wisdom, in pursuit of the better life," Hoover said.

Holiday, who has popularized Stoic ideas for contemporary audiences through his bestselling books and widely shared podcast, said Americans often misunderstand philosophy as an academic exercise rather than a tool for action. Stoicism, he said, was built for public life. Its best-known practitioners were not secluded scholars but people of consequence with responsibilities, including heads of state, military officers, business leaders, and diplomats.

That is why, Holiday said, Mattis has become a compelling modern example for readers of Stoicism. Holiday noted that Mattis carried Marcus Aurelius's Meditations on deployments throughout his career, treating it as a working manual rather than a decorative classic.

For Holiday, that detail captures what Stoicism is: a set of practices that help people do their jobs under pressure, resist vanity, and keep judgment intact when the stakes are high.

Mattis said Stoicism helped him keep his emotions in check when confronted with chaotic, life-or-death situations in combat when others' lives depended on the decisions he made and there was never enough time to be thoughtful about each potentially fateful choice.

"By falling back on certain values, I was able to keep myself calm enough to take purposeful action," Mattis said.

Understanding Stoicism

In understanding Stoicism, Holiday said that some of its purported celebrants today confuse it for a mixture of arrogance, action, and a desire to win no matter the cost.

"Stoicism is not a recipe for being a better sociopath," he said.

It also involves looking at oneself introspectively and developing an internal set of rules and standards to demarcate right and wrong, moral and immoral.

"You're not an egghead, loser, or a dweeb because you want to step back and think about things," Holiday said.

But this has fallen by the wayside when Stoicism is sometimes discussed on podcasts or in social media. Holiday said a new vehicle to convey the value of Stoicism is needed.

"We have done a poor job articulating aspirational, appliable stories that spread the wisdom of the ancients-we haven't done a good job of making them accessible to people," Holiday said.

The Iran War

On the war against Iran, Mattis reminded attendees that the Islamic Republic was the perpetrator of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings that left 300 US Marines and French paratroopers dead. Mattis said he had to write several next-of-kin notification letters to families of Marines killed in that attack.

But he said there is a "strategic disconnect" between America and Israel's overwhelming use of military force to destroy Iranian military materiel and how that overwhelming force can actually achieve America's aims of preventing an Iranian nuclear weapons program or causing the downfall of the regime.

"We've heard things like 'unconditional surrender,' 'we will select the next leader,' '[we] will take out their Navy.' We've done that. Take out the ballistic missiles? We've done that," Mattis said, adding, "We've heard all sorts of things, frankly, and it's been murky and so it's hard to articulate an end state that's achievable."

On the inability of tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, something now pushing global oil prices to record levels, Mattis said the idea that civilian tankers should simply risk getting struck by Iranian missiles, as suggested by some US news commentators and even the president, is ludicrous.

"Let me tell you, I've been in minefields and I hate them," he said. "Every ship can be a minesweeper once, but that's not the way you want to find the mines, I guarantee you."

Allies, Allies, Allies

If the war is to end on terms suitable to America, Mattis argued, the US needs to reengage with its traditional allies in Europe, North America, and Asia to pressure Iran to stop firing missiles in the Persian Gulf and return to the negotiating table. Simply blowing up more stuff will not lead to a solution.

"'Targetry' does not take the place of strategy," Mattis said. "Right now, whether or not we have a strategy to actually use diplomacy, economics, [and our] allies, allies, allies, is still to be proven."

Reengaging those allies might be difficult. Mattis said Denmark is still smarting over US threats to annex or invade Greenland. Canada is still being mocked as a possible fifty-first US state. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is mentioned in poor terms on Truth Social far more often than he would like.

"America is becoming predatory," Mattis said of the prevailing view around the world. "America is unreliable. They [Americans] say one thing and they change seven days later or two days later. So, there's a sense that we are not a reliable security partner right now."

Healing those wounds around the globe may take time.

"It's going to take us eight to twelve years," Mattis said. "I am using those numbers because I have spoken to other [world] leaders, to get to the point once again where they can trust us."

Using Stoicism to Handle Today's Uncertainty

Mattis described America's modern system of democracy and government as "one great big dispute resolution process." For it to work best, everyone must participate in it.

"We are all custodians of our democracy," Mattis said. "We are all protectors of our constitution. All of us have that obligation."

In the face of growing concerns about the trajectory of the republic, Mattis reminded attendees that America's system of checks and balances is still strong.

"Doubt your doubts, don't doubt the Constitution," he said. "The Constitution will hold and we will get through this. It's not dark times; it's a tough time. It's a testing time."

Learning a little about America's tumultuous past might be a healthy thing for some of today's doomsayers, Mattis suggested.

"The people who think things are so bad in our country … the founding fathers were still alive when we nearly made Aaron Burr our president," Mattis said of Thomas Jefferson's vice president, who famously killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.