Theodore H. White Lecture

Inaugurated in 1989, the Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics is delivered annually by a prominent journalist, politician or historian. This event is made possible by the generosity of many donors.

Lecturers

Videos and transcripts of the lectures are available below.

2024: John Dickerson: video and transcript
From 2020-2023 the Theodore H. White lecture was on pandemic hiatus.
2019: Eugene Robinson: Learn more; video
2018: Jill Abramson and Jane Mayer: video and transcript
2017: Nancy Gibbs: Learn more; video and transcript
2016: Larry Wilmore: Learn more; video and transcript
2015: Jill Lepore: Learn more; transcript; video
2014: Mark Halperin and John Heilemann: Learn more; transcript; video
2013: Alan K. Simpson: Learn more; transcript; video
2012: David Brooks: Learn more; transcript; video
2011: Andrew Sullivan: Learn more; transcript; video
2010: Rachel Maddow: Learn more; transcript; audio; video
2009: Taylor Branch: Learn more; transcript; video
2008: John Lewis: Learn more; transcript; video
2007: Maureen Dowd: Learn more; transcript; video
2006: E.J. Dionne: Learn more; transcript; video
2005: Peter Beinart: Learn more; transcript; video
2004: William Kristol: Learn more; transcript; video
2003: Robert Caro: Learn more; transcript; video
2002: David McCullough: Learn more; transcript; video
2001: Judy Woodruff: Learn more; transcript; video
2000: Tom Brokaw: Learn more; transcript; 
1999: Garry Wills: Transcript; video
1998: David Broder: Transcript; video 
1997: William Safire: Transcript; video
1996: Jesse L. Jackson: Transcript; video
1995: William F. Buckley Jr: Transcript; video
1994: Cokie Roberts: Transcript; video
1993: Daniel Schorr: Transcript; video
1992: Sen. Warren B. Rudman: Transcript; video
1991: Benjamin C. Bradlee: Transcript; video
1990: Walter Cronkite: Transcript; video

About Theodore H. White

Theodore H. White set the standard for contemporary political journalism and campaign coverage. He began his career delivering The Boston Post, and entered Harvard College in 1932 on a newsboy’s scholarship. He studied Chinese history and Asian languages, and witnessed the bombing of Chungking in 1939 while reporting on a Sheldon Fellowship. In 1959, White sought support for a 20-year research project, a retrospective of presidential campaigns. After fellow reporters advised him to drop the project, White took to the campaign trail, and changed the course of American political journalism with the publication of The Making of a President in 1960. The 1964, 1968 and 1972 editions of The Making of a President, along with America in Search of Itself, remain vital documents to the study of campaigns and the press. Before his death in 1986, White served on the Visiting Committee at the Kennedy School of Government; he was one of the architects of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.