Past Events

Over the last few years, our students have had a chance to meet some very interesting people through the FDR Foundation! Here's a sampling:


Anna Sevortian, Director Human Rights Watch Russia
Fireside Chat: Human Rights in Putin's Russia


Doris Kearns-Goodwin, Historian, Author
Lecture: FDR, TR, and Lincoln


Julio Frenk, former Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health; President, University of Miami
Panel: Global Health Equity


Laurence Summers, former President of Harvard University
Panel: Global Health Equity


Francis Gatare, former chief advisor to the President, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board
Fireside Chat: Rwanda and Genocide 20 Years On


David Huebner, former US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa
Lecture: What is Our Story, Anyway — American Narratives in the 21st Century


Bruce Oreck, former US Ambassador to Finland
Lecture: Don't Worry. It's Not the End of the World, Just the End of Yours


Michael Ignatieff, former leader of the Liberal Party in Canada, Professor Harvard Kennedy School
Fireside Chat: Sovereignty and Intervention


Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister of Australia
Fireside Chat: US, Australia and the The Future of the Pacific Rim


Juliana Jolly, Nieman Fellow, BBC Asia Editor
Fireside Chat: Sexual Violence Across Cultures


Jean Edward Smith, Presidential Historian
Lecture: FDR - A Life
Lecture: Eisenhower


Bob Schieffer, Anchor, CBS News
Fireside Chat: 50 Years in Washington


Tim Mayopoulos, CEO, Fannie Mae
Lecture & Fireside Chat: FDR, Fannie May and the Affordable Housing Crisis


John Rendon, CEO, The Rendon Group
Lecture & Fireside Chat: Realpolitik, Strategic Communications & the Projection of US Power


Raiyan Syed, Political Campaign Manager
Fireside Chat: Muslim-Jewish Relations in the US: Hard Choices


Laurel Thatcher, Professor Harvard University
Fireside Chat: History Next Door —Tangible Things in the FDR Suite


Robin Chase, Founder Zip Car
Lecture: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism


Alexander Bernstein, Musician, Historian
Performance: Take Care Of This House — Leonard Bernstein, Music and Hope


Amartya Sen, Harvard Economist, Nobel Laureate
Panel: Climate and Social Justice


Julie Wormser, Executive Director, Boston Harbor Association
Lecture: The Effect of Climate Change on Boston


David Brooks, NY Times Columnist, Author
Panel: What's Worth Saving in Civilization


Mark Plotkin, Ethnobotonist and Explorer
Panel: Legacy and Resilience
Fireside Chat: Possibilities in Ethnobotony


Geoffrey Ward, PBS Historian and Author
Lecture and Fireside Chat:
FDR at Harvard


Marcela Davison Aviles, Founder, The Chapultepec Group, FDR Foundation Director of Humanities Programming
Fireside Chat: Don't Steal My Sombrero - A Frank Discussion of Race and Culture in 21st Century America


Jim McCarthy, Professor Harvard University
Lecture: This is What Climate Change Looks Like


Admiral Linda Fagin, US Coast Guard
Lecture: Defending Against the Storm: Response and Resilience


Cynthia Koch, fromer Director of the FDR Presidential Libary and Museum, FDR Foundation Historian in Residence
Lecture: The American Story: From Washington to Roosevelt, Reagan and Beyond


Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal, Nieman Fellow
Fireside Chat: Covering Conflict in Today's Middle East: Syria, Iraq, ISIL, & Iran


Maggie Koerth-Baker, Nieman Fellow, NY Times
Fireside Chat: Why Won't They Listen to Me? Science, Anti-science, & Public Decision-making


Steve Curvood, NPR Host, Living on Earth
Lecture: Disbelievers: The Crisis of Faith on Climate Change


Ömür Budak, Consul General to New England from the Republic of Turkey
Fireside Chat: Turkey & America: An Essential & Challenging Relationship


Brent Bruen, former White House Director of Global Engagement, President Global Situation Room
Seminar: Global Risk & Crisis Management Strategies


Michael McCormick, Harvard
Lecture: Climate Change and the Fall of the Western Roman Empire


Elsie M. Sunderland, Harvard University Assistant Professor
Lecture: Muddying the Waters


Albert Cho, Vice President for Strategy and Business Development, Xylem Inc.
Workshop: Let's Solve Water: Alternative Approaches to Addressing the World's Water Challenges


Alberto J. Mora, former General Counsel of the Navy
Fireside Chat: Ending Torture as a Tool of American Foreign Policy



And then, there were the conferences...









the franklin delano roosevelt foundation

26 Plympton Street, Box 471
Adams House, Harvard College
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138