Portrait of Invention: A Conversation with Lester Brown
June 18, 2009
The Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center presented a special program featuring renowned author and global environmentalist Lester Brown. This latest installment in the Center’s “Portrait of Invention” series offers participants the unique opportunity to engage Brown, founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, in a conversation about the challenges of sustaining civilization.
View webcast of this event (Windows Media format).
Uneasy Partners: Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, LBJ and Martin Luther King Jr.
March 26, 2009
Juan Williams of National Public Radio moderated a discussion of the relationships between Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Baines Johnson and the most influential African American leaders of their day, Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, the National Museum of American History presented an engaging public dialog series to accompany its exhibition, "Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life."
John Stauffer of Harvard University and author of Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, and Nick Kotz author of Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America discussed the relationships between these two presidents and two legendary Civil Rights leaders.
This program was made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant through the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and its traveling exhibition "Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Time, A Man for All Times."
View webcast of this event (Windows Media format).
Lincoln, the Smithsonian, and Science
April 23, 2009
A discussion of Abraham Lincoln's philosophy on government-supported scientific study, the President's relationship with Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry, and the role of presidential science advisors to this day. Discussion features: Marc Rothenberg, editor of The Joseph Henry Papers Project at the Smithsonian Archives; Thomas B. Allen and Roger MacBride Allen, authors of "Mr. Lincoln's High Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Iron-Clads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War." President Obama’s science advisor John P. Holdren, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, offers thoughts on the challenge of Presidential science advising today. Moderated by Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, Richard Kurin.
View webcast of this event (Windows Media format).
Grand Reopening Ceremony and Ribbon-Cutting
November 21, 2008
 The Museum officially reopened to the public on the morning of Friday, Nov. 21, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Museum Director Brent Glass, Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough, and other special guests. Entertainment included musical performances by the Children’s Chorus of Washington and Federal City Brass Band, the firing of an authentic War of 1812 cannon by the Defenders of Fort McHenry, a speech by the Secretary and other leaders, and a reading of the Gettysburg Address—a copy of which is on temporary loan from the White House—by General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret).
View the archived version of this event (Windows Media format).
Star-Spangled Banner Gallery Dedication Ceremony
November 19, 2008
 The National Museum of American History celebrated the dedication of the Star-Spangled Banner Gallery and the reopening of the Museum.
The ceremony included remarks by President Bush; G. Wayne Clough, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution; Brent D. Glass, director, NMAH; David McCullough, historian and museum board member; Roger Farah, president and COO, Polo Ralph Lauren; and Jonathon Scharfen, acting director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
View the archived version of this event (Windows Media format).
|
