The Speaker's Lyceum Series was started by
Speaker Finneran in the spring of 1997 as an attempt to create
a forum in which distinguished citizens could lecture upon
topics of national or local consequence. This unique sharing
of the thoughts and ideas of diverse and esteemed leaders
has proven to be a successful means of invigorating public
dialogue and encouraging civic engagement among lawmakers.
Since the series inception, a series of experts
on pressing legislative and social issues have spoken to members
of the House of Representatives elevating the dialogue within
the body beyond the narrow, immediate issues to larger questions
of policy. Speaker Finneran commented, "It doesn't always
have to be about debate on precise funding formulas and very
refined legal language. Sometimes just the general discussion
is very, very helpful to our thinking and our cognizance of
world events and how they relate to Massachusetts." Since
the inception of the Speaker's Lyceum Series, the Massachusetts
House of Representatives has hosted a number of world-renowned
experts. Their biographies and the date of each Lyceum Series
lecture are below.
June 2004 David Gergen, Public Servant, Educator, and Author
A Cambridge, Massachusetts resident, David Gergen boasts an unparalleled 30-year
record of service in many areas of public life. He has worked as an advisor to
four presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.
He currently holds the position of editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report
and is also a professor of public service and the director of the Center for
Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. A best-selling
author, Mr. Gergen published Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership,
Nixon to Clinton in the fall of 2000. He won praise for his weekly political
commentary on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in the early 1990s and continues to
this day to regularly weigh-in as an analyst on various news shows. In addition,
he is presently active on numerous non-profit boards and is Chairman of the National
Selection Committee for the Ford Foundation’s program on Innovations in
American Government. A native of Durham, North Carolina, Mr. Gergen graduated
from both Yale University (A.B., 1963) and Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1967) with
honors. He served for three-and-a-half years in the U.S. Navy, spending nearly
two years posted in Japan. October 2001 Tim Russert, Political Analyst
Tim Russert is the moderator of "Meet the Press," the political analyst for NBC's "Nightly
News with Tom Brokaw," and the "Today Program," and anchor of CNBC's "The Tim
Russert Show." He is the senior vice president and Washington bureau chief for
NBC News and is also a contributing anchor for MSNBC. He has received 22 honorary
doctorate degrees from American colleges and universities and has lectured at
the John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Ronald Reagan Presidential
Libraries. He is a trustee of the Freedom Forum's Newseum and a member of the
Board of Directors of the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Club and America's
Promise-Alliance for Youth. March 2001 Professor Monica McWilliams, Co-Founder
of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
Professor McWilliams, co-founder and elected representative
of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, was elected to the
Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 and represents the 60,000
constituents of South Belfast. She is a Senior Lecturer in Social
Policy and a course director in Women's Studies at the University
of Ulster. In 1998, she was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters
from Lesley College, Massachusetts, for her work on the impact
of domestic violence and political conflict on women's lives
in Northern Ireland. In addition to this achievement, Professor
McWilliams has received many high honors including the JFK Leadership
and Courage Award and the Frank Cousins Peace Award. May 2000 Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize Laurate
Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in the town of Sighet, now part of Romania. During
World War II, he, with his family and other Jews from the area, were deported
to the German concentration and extermination camps, where his parents and little
sister perished. Wiesel and his two older sisters survived. Liberated from Buchenwald
in 1945 by advancing Allied troops, he was taken to Paris where he studied at
the Sorbonne and worked as a journalist. In 1958, he published his first book,
La Nuit (Night), a memoir of his experiences in the concentration camps. He has
since authored nearly forty books some of which use these events as their basic
material. In his many lectures, Wiesel has concerned himself with the situation
of the Jews and other groups who have suffered persecution and death because
of their religion, race or national origin. He has been outspoken on the plight
of Soviet Jewry, on Ethiopian Jewry, on the State of Israel today and of the
victims in Bosnia and Kosovo. Wiesel has made his home in New York City, and
is now a United States citizen. He has been a visiting scholar at Yale University,
a Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City College of New York,
and since 1976 has been Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston
University where he teaches "Literature of Memory." He was the Chairman
of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council from 1980 - 1986, and he serves
on numerous boards of trustees and advisors. March 2000 Reverend Peter Gomes, Minister of the
Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at
Harvard College
A native of Boston, Reverend Gomes is regarded as one of America's most distinguished
preachers. A graduate of Bates College and Harvard Divinity School, he taught
and served as director of freshman studies at Tuskegee Institute before he came
to Harvard in 1970 as an assistant minister in The Memorial Church. He has been
minister in The Memorial Church since 1974, when he was appointed Plummer Professor
of Christian Morals at Harvard College. He is the author of seven volumes of
sermons, including the national best sellers The Good Book: Reading the Bible
with Mind and Heart and Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living. In 1999, he
was included in an article titled "The Best Talkers in America: Fifty Big
Mouths We Hope Will Never Shut Up" in the premiere issue of Talk magazine.
He has preached and lectured throughout the United States and the British Isles,
and in England in 2000 he delivered the University Sermon at The University of
Cambridge and the Millennial Sermon at Canterbury Cathedral. He participated
in the inaugurations of presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush
and was named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life. He holds
13 honorary degrees and is an honorary fellow of Emmanuel College at Cambridge
University. He is former acting director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American
Research at Harvard and past president of The Signet Society, Harvard's oldest
literary society. He has been a trustee of Bates and Wellesley colleges, The
Public Broadcasting Service, the Plimoth Plantation and the Pilgrim Society of
Plymouth, Massachusetts. September 1999 R. Nicholas Burns, United States Ambassador
to Greece
Ambassador Burns was appointed by President Clinton and sworn into office by
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on November 10, 1997. He has served as
Spokesman for the Department of State and Acting Assistant Secretary for Public
Affairs for Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary Albright. He
also served on the National Security Council Staff at the White House from 1900
until 1995. Raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Ambassador Burns is a Summa Cum
Laude graduate of Boston College and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received
his Masters of the Arts with distinction from Johns Hopkins School of International
Studies. He is a three time recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor
Award for outstanding performance, and a recipient of the Department's James
Clement Dunn Award for Excellence in 1994. He was awarded the Order of Terra
Mariana by Estonian President Meri for his work in securing the withdrawal of
Russian military forces from that country. June 1999 David McCullough, Historian and Author
David McCullough is the author of seven widely acclaimed books, including Truman,
one of the most popular and enduring American biographies and winner of the Pulitzer
Prize. His other books include The Johnstown Flood, the Great Bridge, The Path
Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, and John Adams. Mr.
McCullough has been the host of the PBS television series "The American
Experience" and the narrator of Ken Burns' "The Civil War." A
gifted speaker, he has lectured at the White House and before a joint session
of Congress. More recently, he has been honored with a Commonwealth Award, one
of Massachusetts' highest artistic honors for his contributions to the humanities.
Other achievements and awards include the Charles Frankel Prize, the National
Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the Samuel
Eliot Morrison Award, and the New York Public Library Literary Lion Award. He
is a two-time recipient of the National Book Award and the Frances Parkman Prize. March 1999 Doris Kearns Goodwin, Historian and Author
A resident of Concord, Massachusetts, Doris Kearns Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize
for History in 1995 for No Ordinary Time and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American
Homefront During World War II. Among her other works are the New York Times best-seller,
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream and the five months Times best-seller The
Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, which was made into a highly successful six hour
television mini-series in 1990. Most recently, Dr. Goodwin wrote Wait Till Next
Year, a memoir of growing up as a childhood fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the
1950's. Dr. Goodwin is a regular panelist on PBS' "The Newshour with Jim
Lehrer" and is an NBC-TV analyst. She is a 1964 magna cum laude graduate
of Colby College, was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 1966, and received her
Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in 1968. She is a member of the Harvard
Board of Overseers, the Society of American Historians, and the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, and the winner of the Charles Frankel Prize and a recipient
of the Sarah Joseph Hale medal. She is also the first female journalist to enter
the locker room of the Boston Red Sox. April 1998 Adam Walinsky, President of the Center for Research on
Institutions and Social Policy.
Adam Walinsky is a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School, where
he served on the Law Journal. He worked for the United States Department of Justice
under Attorney General Robert Kennedy and then served for four years as Legislative
Assistant to Robert Kennedy. During his four years with the Senator, he was the
responsible staff member for most of the Senator's work on foreign and domestic
issues, and was instrumental in the creation of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration
Project. He was the Democratic candidate for Attorney General of the State of
New York in 1970. From 1971 to 1995, he was in private law practice in the city
of New York , and he was a member and Chairman of the New York Commission of
Investigation from 1978 to 1981. The Commission carried out investigations of
corruption in New York City employee union welfare funds, the State Department
of Agriculture and the State Department of Corrections. He is a trustee of the
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial and a regular contributor to local and national publications.
In January 1995, he began to serve full-time as President of the Center for Research
on Institutions and Social Policy. The Center concentrates on issues affecting
law enforcement and social change. Since 1982, Mr. Walinsky has worked to establish
the Police Corps to strengthen American law enforcement by adding to existing
police forces citizen officers, serving four-year terms, who would receive four-year
college scholarships in exchange for their commitment to serve. The Police Corps
became law as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994.
October 1997 Gertrude Himmelfarb, Historian and Author
Gertrude Himmelfarb is professor emeritus of history at the City University of
New York. Her writing career spans over four decades, and her books include Lord
Acton (1952), Victorian Minds (1968), On Liberty and Liberalism (1974), Poverty
and Compassion (1991), On Looking Into The Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture
and Society (1994), and, most recently, The De-Moralization of Society: From
Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. A member of the Board of Trustees of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center, she also sits on the Council of Scholars
of the Library of Congress, the Council of Academic Advisers of the American
Enterprise Institute and the Board of Advisers of the Library of America. Until
recently she served on the Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities
and on the editorial boards of the American Historical Review, the American Scholar
and other journals. Professor Himmelfarb received her doctorate from the University
of Chicago in 1950. She also studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and at
Girton College, Cambridge. Over her lengthy career, she has won many fellowships
and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees.
May 1997 Marshall Carter, former Chairman and CEO of State Street
Bank and Trust Company
Marshall N. Carter is currently Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Center
for Business and Government at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
From 1992-2000, he was the Chairman and CEO of the State Street Bank and Trust
Company, a Fortune "500" company. He served two years as a Marine in
Vietnam, was a White House Fellow during the Ford Administration, and worked
at Chase Manhattan Bank before joining State Street in l991. Active in industry
and global organizations, he has been on the boards of numerous securities industry
organizations, and companies. His interest is leadership - in governments, corporations,
the military, and not-for-profit organizations. He has degrees from the U.S.
Military Academy, West Point; the Naval Postgraduate School; and George Washington
University. He recently co-authored Promises to Keep: Saving Social Security's
Dream.
April 1997 James Q. Wilson, Noted Criminologist and former James Collins
Professor of Management at UCLA and Shattuck Professor of Government at Harvard
Since beginning his career as a professor of government at Harvard University
in the 1960's, James Q. Wilson has earned a reputation as a criminologist, economist
and political analyst. He is the author or coauthor of twelve books, including
American Government, Crime and Human Nature, Bureaucracy, and most recently,
The Moral Sense. He has edited or contributed to books on urban problems, government
regulation of business, and the prevention of delinquency among children. Professor
Wilson has served on a number of national public policy commissions including
serving as chairman of the White House Task Force on Crime in 1966, chairman
of the National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention in 1972-1973, a
member of the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime in 1981, and a member
of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1985 to 1990. He
now serves on the board of directors of the New England Electric System, Protection
One, the RAND Corporation, and State Farm Mutual Insurance. He is also Chairman
of the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute. He
has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a
fellow of the American Philosophical Society. In 1990, he received the James
Madison award for distinguished scholarship from the American Political Science
Association and served as that organization's president. Professor Wilson earned
his Bachelor's degree from University of Redlands and his Ph.D. and Masters from
the University of Chicago. March 1997 Robert Reich, Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and
Economic Policy at Brandeis University and former United States Secretary of
Labor
A resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Robert Reich is the Maurice B. Hexter
Professor of Social and Economic Policy at Brandeis University. Before joining
Brandeis, he served as the nation's 22nd secretary of labor during President
Bill Clinton's first term. Before heading the Labor Department, Reich was a member
of the faculty of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
He served as an assistant to the Solicitor General in the Ford Administration,
and he headed the policy planning staff of the Federal Trade Commission in the
Carter Administration. Professor Reich is the author of eight books including
The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and most recently, The Future of
Success. He has written numerous articles on the global economy, the changing
nature of work and the centrality of human capital. Professor Reich was the host
of the four-part public television series Made in America (1992), and most recently
writer and host of the PBS special At The Grass Roots (1998). He also co-hosted
the public TV series The Long and the Short of It, and he frequently appears
on public radio's Marketplace. A 1968 graduate of Dartmouth College, Professor
Reich obtained an M.A. as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and a J.D. from
Yale Law School in 1973.
