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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated to the memory of our nation's thirty-fifth president and to all those who through the art of politics seek a new and better world. Our purpose is to advance the study and understanding of President Kennedy's life and career and the times in which he lived; and to promote a greater appreciation of America's political and cultural heritage, the process of governing and the importance of public service. We accomplish our mission by: preserving and making accessible the records of President Kennedy and his times; promoting open discourse on critical issues of our own time; and educating and encouraging citizens to contribute, through public and community service, to shaping our nation's future.break

http://www.jfklibrary.org

Vietnam War and the Presidency: Keynote Speaker

Fri, Mar 10, 2006

David Halberstam, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, gives the opening lecture at "Vietnam and the Presidency", a national conference where leading historians, key policymakers of the Vietnam War era, and journalists who covered the war examine the antecedents of the war, presidential decision-making, media coverage, public opinion, lessons learned and the influence of the Vietnam experience on subsequent US foreign policy. The Vietnam War was the longest and most controversial war that the United States ever fought. It claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and over three million Vietnamese. From the arrival of the first US military advisors in the 1950s to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, US involvement in Viet Nam was central to the Cold War foreign policies of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. The war has continued to affect the policies of subsequent presidents, and its legacy is particularly relevant today during America's war on terror.

Forum Network

Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Vietnam War and the Presidency: Lessons Learned

Sat, Mar 11, 2006

Brian Williams leads former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, Senator Chuck Hagel, and former ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson in discussion about the Vietnam War. This lecture comes from "Vietnam and the Presidency", a national conference where leading historians, key policymakers of the Vietnam War era, and journalists who covered the war examine the antecedents of the war, presidential decision-making, media coverage, public opinion, lessons learned and the influence of the Vietnam War experience on subsequent US foreign policy. The Vietnam War was the longest and most controversial war that the United States ever fought. It claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and over three million Vietnamese. From the arrival of the first US military advisers in the 1950s to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, US involvement in Viet Nam was central to the Cold War foreign policies of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. The war has continued to affect the policies of subsequent presidents, and its legacy is particularly relevant today during America's war on terror.

Forum Network

Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
George Mitchell: Brokering Peace

Mon, Sep 18, 2006

Former United States Senator George Mitchell analyzes the primary issues involved in resolving the conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. The forum is moderated by Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe.

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Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Rebuilding Afghanistan

Mon, Sep 25, 2006

Former National Public Radio correspondent Sarah Chayes, who has been living in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, and award-winning journalist Sebastian Junger, who has covered Afghanistan for ABC News and other publications, discuss efforts to help reconstruct Afghanistan after 9/11. Jessica Stern, an expert on terrorism who teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, moderates.

Forum Network

Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Change Haiti Can Believe In: Part I

Tue, Jan 27, 2009

Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health; actor and activist Matt Damon, who recently visited Haiti to assist victims devastated by hurricanes; Massachusetts State Representative and Haitian-American Linda Dorcena Forry; and Brian Concannon, Jr., director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, share their stories of eradicating disease and injustice in one of the world's poorest nations, and discuss how changes in US policy can help to build a stronger, more resilient, and prosperous Haiti. Amy Goodman, host of *Democracy Now!*, moderates.

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Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Change Haiti Can Believe In: Part II

Tue, Jan 27, 2009

Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health; actor and activist Matt Damon, who recently visited Haiti to assist victims devastated by hurricanes; Massachusetts State Representative and Haitian-American Linda Dorcena Forry; and Brian Concannon, Jr., director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, share their stories of eradicating disease and injustice in one of the world's poorest nations, and discuss how changes in US policy can help to build a stronger, more resilient, and prosperous Haiti. Amy Goodman, host of *Democracy Now!*, moderates.

Forum Network

Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Theodore Roosevelt: The White House Years

Tue, Mar 5, 2002

As part of the Kennedy Library Presidential Historian Series, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Edmund Morris discusses his new, best-selling book, *Theodore Rex*, the second of a proposed three-volume biography. Morris' first volume, *The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt* (1979), won a Pulitzer Prize. President McKinley's assassination brought the 43-year-old Roosevelt a challenging presidency, which included persuading Congress to curb competition-stifling corporate trusts, monopolistic transcontinental railroads, and unhygienic food industries. He also faced labor and racial strife. Abroad, the American presence in Cuba and the Philippines brought criticism, the Russo-Japanese conflict threatened major power shifts in the Far East and Europe, and a politically and financially fraught decision on the Central American canal route, Panama or Nicaragua, loomed large. Despite the demands of family and social life, he read, wrote, and traveled extensively, and put national parks and conservation of natural resources on the legislative agenda.

Forum Network

Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Art of Political Humor

Wed, Oct 16, 2002

Join comedian and political satirist Al Franken in a discussion of the use, history and importance of humor in our national politics, with Helen Thomas and Senator Alan Simpson. CNN senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, will be the moderator.

Forum Network

Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Jeffrey Sachs: Ending Global Poverty

Tue, Mar 5, 2002

Jefferey Sachs discuses the challenge of ending the poverty that afflicts so much of the world today. **Jeffrey Sachs**, renowned expert on the economic and social devastation of AIDS in developing countries, has been recently named by Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, as Special UN Advisor on Poverty, Health and Education.

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Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Celebrating America's National Pastime: Baseball

Tue, Mar 30, 2004

ABC *Good Morning America's* Charles Gibson moderates this discussion about baseball's enduring hold on our national imagination with Boston Red Sox CEO and President Larry Lucchino, *New Yorker* writer Roger Angell, Dan Shaughnessy from The Boston Globe, and NECN Red Sox announcer, Jerry Remy.

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Partner:

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation