Luncheon Features Pulitzer Prize Winner
Jack Rakove, Pulitzer Prize-winning political author and professor at Stanford University, will speak about “Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams and Madison: The Moral Vision of America’s Founding” on Friday, Feb. 5, to a sold-out audience at the Biltmore Santa Barbara. The sold-out luncheon is part of the Mosher Foundation’s series on Moral and Ethical Leadership in American Society: westmont.edu/leadershipseries.
Rakove, the William Robertson Coe professor of history and American studies and professor of political science and law at Stanford University, authored “Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution” which won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in History, the 1997 Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award, and the 1998 Society of the Cincinnati Book Prize. His other books include “The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress” and “James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic.”
He has edited several books on topics such as the Constitution and the Federalist Papers and published numerous op-ed articles in major newspapers.
Rakove has been a consultant and expert witness in several cases involving 18th century Indian land claims in New York. In fact, he has written four amicus curiae briefs for the Supreme Court, including one cited in D.C. v. Heller (2008), the leading Second Amendment case.
He graduated from Haverford College, studied at the University of Edinburgh, earned a doctorate in history at Harvard, and has been teaching at Stanford since 1980.
The series continues with the Westmont President’s Breakfast featuring speaker David Brooks, New York Times columnist and author of the best-selling book “The Road to Character” on Friday, March 4, at 7 a.m. at the Fess Parker: A Doubletree Resort by Hilton. Tickets cost $125 each and go on sale Monday, Feb. 1, at 9 a.m.
Ronald C. White, author of several best-selling books, including “A. Lincoln: A Biography,” speaks about “The Long Arc of Abraham Lincoln’s Moral Vision: The American Presidency to the Modern Day” on June 1 at the Lead Where You Stand Conference at Westmont. Meg Jay speaks about “Why 30 Is Not the New 20: Understanding the Mindset of Millennials” at the conference on June 2.