Geraldo Cadava teaches in the history department at Northwestern University. He is the author of two books, Standing on Common Ground (2016), about the U.S.-Mexico border since World War II, and The Hispanic Republican (2020) about how the Republican Party developed a remarkably loyal base of Hispanic support since the 1960s. His research and teaching interests are broad and include Latinx, immigration, and borderlands history, and the relationship between the past and the present. At Northwestern, he has taught courses on Watergate, the musical Hamilton, and the history of the 2016 election.
Cadava's talk is based on a research project about fears of the racial transformation of the United States from the 1960s to the present. The book ends are the signing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which led to increased migration from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and the presidency of Donald Trump, whose administration has tried to roll back the tide of demographic change. It can be argued that fears of the looming white minority has been the driving force of support for him.