Rebeca C. Leffler is an America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Claremont Graduate University with subfields in political philosophy and American politics. Her research lies at the intersection of political philosophy, history, and American politics. More specifically, she is interested in the ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American political system, particularly the presidency.

Her monograph, Executive War Rhetoric, examines how American executives have used war rhetoric as part of statecraft. Using an applied history, conceptual, and comparative-historical approach, she develops what makes for effective and responsible executive war rhetoric, given American constitutionalism and grand strategy. In Part One, she surveys the classical origins of rhetoric and examines the phenomena and political significance of war rhetoric —a blended species of deliberative and epideictic rhetoric. Part Two offers a comparative-historical analysis of the executive war rhetoric surrounding the Civil War.

Her research is forthcoming in American Political Thought, Movements and American Political Thought, and SAGE Encyclopedia of Crime and Gender. Prior to joining AWC, she held teaching positions at Hamilton College and Claremont McKenna College. She has an M.A. in politics from Claremont Graduate University and a B.A. in English from California State University, Los Angeles.