The story is the same in many places: citizens aren't currently wild about their leaders. As John A. Burtka IV writes in the introduction to Gateway to Statesmanship, the "examples of elite failures are so ubiquitous that there is no reason to chronicle them all here." Better, Burtka argues, to turn to history to "rediscover the time-tested principles of leadership."

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December 6 marks the anniversary of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in America in 1865. In this podcast, we look at the paradox of enslavement and our forefathers' emphasis on liberty and equality. In this unique conversation, hear from a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, who is now the Monticello Public Relations and Community Engagement Officer, speaking on "The Paradox of Liberty.

Would you like to watch the conversation with the presentation? You can find it here: https://oconnorinstitute.org/constitution-series-august2020-monticello/

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Ambassador Eizenstat joined the O'Connor Institute to discuss his latest book, The Art of Diplomacy, which in one readable volume covers every major contemporary international agreement, from the treaty to end the Vietnam War to the Kyoto Protocols and the Iranian Nuclear Accord, and has earned glowing reviews from people as different in outlook as Tony Blair and Henry Kissinger. Diplomacy is a craft founded on trust and compromise. What lessons might its history hold for international and domestic politics today?

Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat has served in six U.S. administrations, Democrat and Republican, holding senior positions such as Chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. He recommended to President Jimmy Carter a Presidential Commission on the Holocaust, headed by Elie Wiesel, which led directly to the congressional approval of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Today, he is Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council.

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Today, we share a conversation that looks at the impact of stereotypes, how they affect us, and what we can do to limit their adverse effects. This discussion is led by Stanford Professor Dr. Claude M. Steele, an expert on social psychology, and initially took place as part of our Constitution Series Webcasts focusing on Equality and Justice for All. While this is a challenging topic, Dr. Steele leads us through where we came from and the hope psychologists see today.

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As students return to classrooms across the country this fall, we are resharing important conversations on landmark cases related to education. Today, we look at one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the 20th Century - Brown v. Board of Education. This detailed conversation with Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of the late Rev. Oliver L Brown, who brought the suit represented by NAACP Chief Council Thurgood Marshall, examines the history behind the case.

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As preparations for the 2024 General Election approach, the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy sat down with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) President Secretary Steve Simon (D-MN), President-elect Michael Watson (R-MS), and NASS Executive Director Leslie Reynolds to discuss important bipartisan aspects of election administration, including election security, voter registration, poll worker recruitment, and evolving technology.

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We are pleased to take a new look at this conversation with Dr. Spencer Crew, in which he discusses the importance of making African American history accessible to the public. Art and documents in a museum can be an important way to experience and understand cultures in new ways.

Dr. Spencer Crew has worked in public history institutions for more than twenty-five years. He served as president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for six years and worked at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution for twenty years. From 2019 to 2020, he served as the interim director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture as the Smithsonian conducted a nationwide search for a permanent director. Today, he serves as the Robinson Professor of U.S. History at George Mason University.

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Empty office buildings. Workforce changes allow for more remote work. American downtowns are struggling. The pandemic-led changes in where and how we work and live have weakened and withered many urban cores. The office vacancy rate in Houston is some 26 percent; in Phoenix it is above 20 percent. This shift means fewer workers, fewer businesses to serve them, less tax revenue, and hollowed-out neighborhoods. Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh of Columbia University coined the term "urban doom loop" to describe the cycle now taking hold in American downtowns, and he believes the biggest challenges are yet to come. But we are not without hope. Can urban America be saved? The O'Connor Institute welcomes Drs. Van Nieuwerburgh and Tracy Hadden Loh of the Brookings Institution to discuss.

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