JMC
Statesmanship and the American Presidency
Join us for a Presidents Day discussion of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and their great speeches with Jack Miller Center president Hans Zeiger and Diana Schaub, professor emerita of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland and a non-resident Senior Scholar in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies department at the American Enterprise Institute.
February marks the birthdays of America’s two greatest statesmen, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Washington was the “indispensable man” in the founding of the Union, and Lincoln saved that Union in its hour of greatest crisis.
Through words and action, they both sought to defend the sacred principles of freedom and equality at the heart of the American political tradition. In a period of division like the one facing America today, recalling the sources of these statesmen’s greatness is more vital than ever.
Join us on Friday, February 21, at 3:00 PM for a conversation about these great men and their great speeches with Jack Miller Center president Hans Zeiger and Diana Schaub, professor emerita of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland and a non-resident Senior Scholar in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies department at the American Enterprise Institute. Professor Schaub is the author of several books, most recently His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation. This live webinar is free and open to the public.
Recommended Reading
Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address – In his first major public address, Lincoln also reflected on the importance of the Constitution and the proper spirit of citizenship to ensure “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.” “As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence,” he said to an assembly of young men on the frontier, “so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor.”
George Washington’s Farewell Address – In his last major public address, Washington sought to remind the people of the dangers to American liberty: faction, vice, and above all ignorance. The outgoing president asked the American people to put their common citizenship and shared “zeal for liberty” at the forefront of their political deliberations.
Diana Schaub is professor emerita of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland and a non-resident Senior Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She was the Garwood Teaching Fellow at Princeton University in 2011-12 and Visiting Professor of Political Theory in the Government Department at Harvard University in 2018, 2020, and 2022. She is the author of a book on Montesquieu, along with numerous articles in the fields of political philosophy and American political thought. She is a coeditor (with Amy and Leon Kass) of What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song. A member of the Board of Directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, she also sits on the publication committee of National Affairs. Her book on Lincoln’s rhetoric and statesmanship, His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation, appeared in 2021 from St. Martin’s Press.
Professor Schaub is a member of the Jack Miller Center’s Academic Advisory Council.