Leadership and Legacy: Conversations at the George Washington Presidential Library

Dr. Frank Cogliano is Professor of American History and Dean International for North America at the University of Edinburgh and is also a member of the advisory board for the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. His latest book is "Emperor of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson's Foreign Policy." He discusses his role as a Jefferson scholar, Jefferson's reputation as a Founder, and the relationship between Jefferson, Washington, and Hamilton. Dr. Cogliano spoke at the 2016 George Washington Symposium at Mount Vernon.

Dr. Susan Dunn is the Massachusetts Professor of Humanities at Williams College and is the author of numerous history books exploring topics ranging from the French and American Revolutions to World War II. In this episode she discusses her early books on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the importance of the Bill of Rights in the 20th Century, and how public education contributions to the creation of good citizens. Dr. Dunn spoke at the 2016 George Washington Symposium at Mount Vernon on November 4, 2016.

Mr. Richard Brookhiser is an American journalist, biographer, and historian, and is a senior editor at National Review. He has also written numerous books on the Founding period of American history. Mr. Brookhiser was the 2016 Gay Hart Gaines Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of American History at the Washington Library. He discusses his work on the study of George Washington.

The George Washington Leadership Lecture was held on October 3, 2016 and features a conversation with FBI Director James Comey, who will discuss leadership lessons learned throughout his personal pathway to becoming the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as his particular style of leading the nation's premiere federal law enforcement agency. The Lecture is held in partnership with the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy and was made possible by a generous gift by Maribeth Borthwick, USC class of '73 and Vice Regent for California of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

Dr. Lorri Glover is Professor and the John Francis Bannon S.J. Endowed Chair at St. Louis University and was a member of the 2016-17 class of research fellows at the Washington Library. She discusses her book "The Fate of the Revolution: Virginians Debate the Constitution," Dr. Glover spoke at a Ford Evening Book Talk at the Washington Library on October 20, 2016.

To celebrate the three-year anniversary of the opening of the Washington Library, we joined forces with the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to host an old-fashioned debate entitled "Hamilton v. Jefferson on Executive Power: What Would Washington Say?" on September 27, 2016. The Founding Debates are sponsored by The Ammerman Family Foundation to honor James C. Rees, whose vision lives on with the Washington Library.

Dr. Mary Sarah Bilder is the Founders Professor of Law at Boston College Law School, where she teaches in the areas of property, trusts and estates, and American legal and constitutional history. She discusses her book "Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention," which was a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize. Dr. Bilder spoke at a Ford Evening Book Talk at Mount Vernon on September 15, 2016.

Dr. Bruce Ragsdale has served as director of the Federal Judicial History Office at the Federal Judicial Center and as an associate historian at the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also a fellow at the Washington Library during the 2014-15 academic year and was the recipient of the James C. Rees Entrepreneurship Fellowship. Dr. Ragsdale discusses his work studying George Washington’s agricultural entrepreneurship, including Washington’s interest in the continual improvement of his farms at Mount Vernon.

Dr. Edward Larson is a University Professor of history and holds the Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education and a visiting professor at Stanford Law. In 1998 he received the Pulitzer Prize for History for his book "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion." Dr. Larson spoke at the Supreme Court Lecture Series at the Washington Library on April 28, 2016.

Michael Blakeman is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale and was the Amanda and Greg Gregory Fellow at the Washington Library for the 2014-2015 academic year. During this Lunch and Fellowship Program, recorded on August 19, 2015, Michael discusses his doctoral dissertation, "Speculation Nation: Land and Mania in the Age of the American Revolution." Over the course of the discussion you’ll hear Michael explain how the market for land speculation grew in the 1780s and 90s, why speculators purchased such vast quantities of land, and how land speculators used the American Revolution to boost their sales.