Noshing With John Barry – September 10, 2026
Author, Power & Peril: Writings about the Fate of the American Republic
How do we balance strong leadership with constitutional restraint—and what happens when that balance begins to shift?
This week on “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” I talk with John Barry, author of Power & Peril: Writings about the Fate of the American Republic, about one of the most enduring challenges facing American democracy: power is always going to be there, but so is the peril when that power isn’t properly restrained.
John explains why he wrote Power & Peril and draws on history, national security, leadership and the American political experience to examine what happens when the boundaries of power are tested.
We discuss lessons for today’s leaders, why we need to learn from history, and the importance of putting pressure on allies without belittling them. John points to Desert Storm as a model for working with allies, including the importance of maintaining strong relationships within alliances such as NATO.
We also revisit Benjamin Franklin’s famous response when asked after the Constitutional Convention whether the new nation had a monarchy or a republic: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
For John, the Constitution is essentially a “document of caution”—a framework designed to recognize the presence of power while placing limits on how that power can be exercised.
We explore whether America is currently testing those constitutional boundaries, the challenges posed by increasingly autocratic regimes, and why curiosity and an informed citizenry matter. John also discusses what he calls “normalizing deviance”—the danger of gradually accepting behavior that once would have seemed unacceptable.
It’s a wide-ranging conversation about American history, constitutional government, leadership, national security, alliances and the future of the American republic.
ABOUT JOHN:
John L. Barry, Maj. Gen., USAF (Ret.) served more than 30 years in the United States Air Force, rising to the rank of Major General. A fighter pilot, combat veteran, and graduate of the USAF Fighter Weapons School, he held senior leadership positions during some of the most consequential moments of our time, including Desert Storm, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the strategic transformation of the U.S. military after the Cold War. While serving as the Air Force’s lead strategic planner in the Pentagon, he survived the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He later concluded his military career as Board Member and Executive Director of the Columbia Space Shuttle Accident Investigation following the tragic loss of Columbia in 2003.
After retiring from military service, Barry turned his focus to public leadership and institutional reform. As Superintendent of Aurora Public Schools in Colorado, he led a district of 40,000 students and 60 schools through significant transformation, pioneering one of the nation’s early concurrent enrollment programs linking high school students to college credit and workforce pathways. He later served as President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver and then as President and CEO of Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, where the institution gained national and international recognition as one of America’s leading aerospace museums.
Today, John serves as Chair of the Air Force Historical Foundation and Vice Chair of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, continuing his lifelong commitment to preserving the lessons of history and connecting them to the challenges of the present.
A 1973 Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, John also holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma. He served as a White House Fellow at NASA during the Challenger era and later studied national security leadership at Harvard Kennedy School.
His honors include Colorado Superintendent of the Year, induction into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame and the Colorado Titan 100 CEOs Hall of Fame, the White House Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, and the FAA Master Pilot Award.