The 4th of July has passed, but we’re still celebrating America’s 250th birthday! From the Declaration of Independence to modern popular culture, how much do you really know about American history? Bring your team of up to four players (or join a team on the spot) and come test your knowledge at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. With multiple rounds of fun and quirky questions, Here’s Your Host’s Matt Eickhoff will challenge just how much you really know.
Impress your friends!
Win prizes!
Wonder where you learned that particular piece of trivia!
Registration is not required.
Professor Jonathan Turley will be discussing his book “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.” The New York Times bestseller has been described by former NPR editor Uri Berliner as “Jonathan Turley’s birthday gift to America to mark its 250 years of independence… A wise guide to avoid wrecking the American project.”
Turley explores the unique elements of the American Revolution in comparison to its counterpart in France. He discusses why one became the world’s oldest democracy and the other became the infamous “Terror.” That story is told with vivid stories of the personalities of the age, including Thomas Paine’s, who was one of two leading figures in both revolutions (the other being Lafayette).
Turley takes that rich history and asks whether the American Republic can survive the 21st Century. He addresses the massive economic changes unfolding globally due to the combination of robotics and artificial intelligence. These changes will require the nation to recommit to what Turley calls a “liberty-enhancing economy.” America’s foundations in both enlightenment and free market theories offers a roadmap for not just surviving but thriving in the 21st Century. It is the next chapter of what Turley calls the “unfinished story of the American Revolution.”
Book signing to follow the event.
Over fifty years ago, a groundbreaking moment changed the course of history. On October 7, 1975, President Ford signed Public Law 94-106, opening enrollment to women at US service academies.
Author Kathleen Kornahrens will tell of her experience as a member of the first class to include women at the US Air Force Academy as detailed in her book, “‘Bring Me Men…’ Brought Women: Marching with the First Female Cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy.”
Colonel Gail Colvin, USAF (Ret.) will join her to examine the legacy of President Ford’s signature.
Book sale, signing and reception to follow.
Best-selling biographer, Max Boot, talks about his latest book, a revelatory portrait of the telegenic leader who ushered in a transformative conservative era in American politics. Despite his fame as a Hollywood star and television host, Ronald Reagan remained a man of profound contradictions. Never resorting to either hagiography or hit job, REAGAN charts his epic journey from Depression-era America to “Morning in America.” Boot will provide fresh insight into “trickle-down economics,” the Cold War’s end, the Iran-Contra affair, and so much more.
Book sales, signing and reception to follow.
Two former staffers to President George H. W. Bush bring together the most harrowing and hilarious stories behind presidential events over the past sixty years—from the Rose Garden to Air Force One, foreign trips to the campaign trail—detailing the art of preparation that goes into these delicate, high-stress operations and revealing how they have often been one step away from disaster.
Book sales, signing and coffee reception to follow.
Best-selling author, Eric Jay Dolin, reclaims the daring sailors who proved essential to winning the Revolutionary War. The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime histories is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character―above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. Dolin corrects that omission, contending privateers (often seen as profiteers at best and pirates at worst) were in fact critical to the Revolution’s outcome.
Book sales, signing and reception to follow.
Rear Admiral (Ret.) Huan Nguyen, USN shares a powerful reflection on the American story through the intertwined experiences of his family’s escape from Vietnam, President Gerald Ford’s courageous leadership during the 1975 refugee crisis, and his own three decades of military service. He honors the compassion of ordinary Americans—such as Ed and Dorothy Veiluva of Oklahoma—whose kindness helped his family rebuild their lives, and he recounts how that generosity inspired his commitment to serve the nation that welcomed them. The remarks offer a thoughtful reflection on what it means to belong, to serve, and to carry the American story forward.
Coffee reception to follow.
Today, debate rages over how to interpret the United States Constitution, especially what role history should play in that practice.
When the generation that adopted the Constitution in the late eighteenth century first interpreted the document, what defined their debates? How do those debates compare to the ones structuring American constitutional law today?
Join author and professor Jonathan Gienapp for a lecture exploring how to read the Constitution through lenses past and present and reflecting on what the creators can teach us about the Constitution today.
A book signing and dessert reception will follow the program.
