Previous Lectures

2023 - Nikole Hannah-Jones
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and creator of the 1619 Project
Staff writer at The New York Times Magazine

2019 - Dr. Scott Parazynski 
Astronaut, Physician and Founder and CEO of Fluidity Technologies
The Opportunity and the Obligation to Innovate: To Infinity and Beyond

2018 -  Jonathan Haidt
Renowned Social Psychologist
Politics and Polarization

2017 - Samantha Power
Former UN Ambassador
Why Human Rights Matter More Than Ever

2016 - Nancy Lublin
Founder and CEO of Crisis Text Line
The Giving Solution: How Philanthropy is Changing the World

2015 - Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Pulitzer Prize winners
Why Students Should Care About the World—& Change It

2014 - Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium 
Science as a Way of Knowing

2013 - Jon Huntsman
Former governor, Utah
Challenges Facing America Today

2012 - Soledad O'Brien 
CNN journalist
Her Life Stories

2011 - Steven D. Levitt
William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago
The World through the Eyes of a Freakonomist

2010 - Bob Woodward
Journalist and Author
From Nixon to Obama

2009 - Greg Mortenson
Author
Peace Through Education

2008- Retired Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft,USAF
U.S. Diplomacy in a Transforming World

2007 - Ruth Wedgwood
The Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, and Director of the Program in International Law and Organizations, at the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C.
Fighting Terrorism within the Law

2006 – William Kristol
Editor of “The Weekly Standard”
American Foreign Policy after September 11th

2005 – Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D.
Addie Clark Harding Professor in the Committee on Social Thought
Science, Politics and the Dilemmas of Bioethics

2004 – Linda Chavez
President, Center for Equal Opportunity
Thinking About Race: The Shifting Civil Rights Agenda

2003 – Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor (Ret.)
United States Marine Corps
War and the Christian Conscience

2002 – Hon. Clarence Thomas
Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
Judging and the Court

2001 – Mary Ann Glendon
Learned Hand Professor, Harvard Law School
Perils and Promise of the International Human Rights Project

2000 – Christopher J. Matthews
MSNBC “Hardball” Anchor
Freedom

1999 – Paul D. Wolfowitz
Dean, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University
Quarrels in Far Away Countries: U.S. National Interests and Ethnic Conflicts

1998 – Gertrude Himmelfarb
Professor Emerita of History, The City University of New York
Two Cultures: A Nation Divided

1997 – Prof. James Q. Wilson
Collins Professor of Management, The University of California at Los Angeles
Criminal Trials: Judging vs. Explaining

1996 – Hon. Robert P. Casey
Former Governor, Pennsylvania
Not by Bread Alone: The Culture War and its Impact on the Politics of 1996 and Beyond

1994 – Gen. John R. Galvin (Ret.)
United States Army
The Uses of Military Force in Achieving National Objectives

1993 – Hon. Paul E. Tsongas
Former Senator, Massachusetts
The Future of America

1992 – Hon. Shirley Williams
Professor of Electoral Politics, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
From Communism to Democracy: The Agony of Transition

1991 – Hon. John T. Noonan, Jr.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals
Free Exercise of Religion: Past History and Present Crisis

1990 – Hon. Antonin Scalia
Associate Justice, United States Supreme
Reflections on the Constitution

1989 – Robert M. Hayes
Founder, National Coalition for the Homeless
Fear, Loathing or Compassion? Confronting the Homeless on the Streets of America

1988 – Paul A. Volcker
Former Chairman, Federal Reserve System
Meeting Our Public Responsibilities

1987 – Bernard J. O’Keefe
Chairman, Executive Committee of EG&G
The U.S. Economy and World Peace

1986 – Dr. Constance E. Clayton
Superintendent, Philadelphia Public Schools
Cross-Currents and Conflicts in Educational Reform

1985 – William M. Dyal, Jr.
President, American Field Service International/Intercultural Programs, Inc.
Building Bridges of Understanding in a Divided World

1984 – Hon. R. Sargent Shriver
Founding Director, Peace Corps; Former Ambassador to France

1984: George Orwell versus Holy Cross

1983 – Hon. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Esq.
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Carter
Politicizing God and Science: Whatever Happened to the Difference Between Madame Curie and Dr. Frankenstein?

1982 – Dr. Lester C. Thurow
Professor of Management and Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Can the United States Survive in a Competitive World?

1981 – Prof. Doris Kearns Goodwin
Former Aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson
The Presidency: Imperial or Impotent

1980 – Hon. Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. 
Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
The United States and the World in the 1980’s

1979 – Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge
Distinguished Public Servant
Needed Reforms in American Government and Foreign Policy

1978 – John Kenneth Galbraith
Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University
Inflation to Unemployment: The Anatomy of Economic Achievement

1977 – Hon. George W. Ball
Under Secretary of State, Ambassador to the United Nations
Diplomacy for a Crowded World

1975 – Prof. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Albert Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities, The City University of New York
The American Government and Economic Crisis

1974 – Prof. Archibald Cox
Harvard Law School
The Judiciary as an Instrument of Reform

1973 – Prof. Gino Germani
Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs, Harvard University
Democracy and Dictatorship in Latin America

1972 – Dr. Allen S. Whiting
Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan
Relations Between the United States and China: Realities and Myths

1971 – Hon. Charles E. Bohlen
U.S. Career Diplomat, Former Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Aspects of American Foreign Policy in a Post-War World

1970 – Dr. Adam B. Ulam
Russian Research Center, Harvard University
The Sources of the Cold War: Soviet Perspectives

1969 – Hon. John P. Collins
Professor of Government, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Dynamics of Urban Change

1968 – Prof. James Vorenberg
Harvard Law School
The Need for Light and Action

1967 – Prof. Edwin O. Reischauer
University Professor of History, Harvard University
Beyond Vietnam

1966 – Dr. Richard Neustadt
Harvard School of Public Administration
Presidential Power: Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

1965 – Hon. Paul C. Reardon
Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court
The Judiciary: State and Federal
*lecturers are listed by academic year