Visiting Speakers   

Join Kenneth Colen, President of On Top of the World Communities, LLC to hear the history of On Top of the World. Learn how the company got its start, its growth, the corporate philosophy, and where OTOW is headed in the future.

A year before the declaration, Congress created two things: the Army and the Post Office. Learn how the Postal Service helped America win independence and about the fascinating men and women who risked everything for the cause. Colorful commemorative postage stamps will help illustrate our history. This is a remote presenter.

“If God had meant for men to fly, he would’ve given them wings.” Such was the prevailing view in the 19th century.  But for Wilbur and Orville Wright, bachelor brothers who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, the question of flight was not a matter of divine providence, but rather one of mechanics.

Through sheer determination and repeated experimentation, they accomplished what was long thought impossible on a blustery December day in 1903 on the coast of North Carolina. The world would never be the same as these two self-taught sons of a Christian Bishop taught themselves the rudiments of a science that would one day take man to the moon. Their creation of powered flight has literally shrunk the world and made possible the global economy that exists today. This class recounts the lives and challenges faced by these two incredible pioneers of flight.

Co-authors Francis D. Cogliano and Peter S. Onuf offer a fresh interpretation of Thomas Jefferson’s powerful appeal to fellow patriots of his own and future generations to vindicate the new American nation’s claims to independence. What we call “democracy” emerged in the midst of war as a new, self-declared people mobilized to defend their country and the liberties they cherished. 

Seeking a more perfect union, Jefferson and his fellow Revolutionaries were acutely conscious of their own imperfection, recognizing that Americans in the future would also face crises that threatened the republic’s survival. Jefferson did not have all the answers, but he raised the right questions. Jefferson’s moment anticipates ours: that is why he matters. This is a remote presentation. 

The book being used as part of this presentation is a NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR.  A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and leading expert on the topic of John F. Kennedy, Fredrik Logevall, takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth president. 

Logevall will speak about his expertise and writings in this book that delves into Kennedy's childhood, education at Harvard, and his experiences during World War II, highlighting his physical bravery and the influence of his family and their political ambitions. He will touch upon how Kennedy's internationalist perspective and growing political consciousness shaped his decision to enter national politics. Logevall draws on previously unseen materials, including Oval Office tapes, interviews with Jackie Kennedy, and declassified CIA documents, to offer a fresh perspective on Kennedy's life and presidency. He will be presenting remotely.

Fredrik Logevall is the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Professor of History, Harvard University. A specialist on U.S. foreign relations history and modern international history, he was previously the Anbinder Professor of History at Cornell University, where he also served as vice provost and as the director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Logevall is the author or editor of ten books, most recently JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 (Random House, 2020). His book Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam (Random House, 2012), won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 2013 Francis Parkman Prize, as well as the 2013 American Library in Paris Book Award and the 2013 Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations. His other recent works include America’s Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity (with Campbell Craig; 2nd ed., Belknap/Harvard, 2020), and the college-level textbook A People and A Nation: A History of the United States (with Jane Kamensky et al; 11th ed., Cengage, 2018). A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Logevall holds a PhD in History from Yale University. He is a past president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

There is probably no more iconic national memorial than the four faces carved into the rocky granite face of Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Created by Danish American sculptor Gutzon Borglum between 1927 and 1941, the site hosts over two million visitors annually.

But many of those who gaze up at the huge stone faces are unaware of its surprising history. In fact, the original idea of the monument was to honor Lewis and Clark, Buffalo Bill, and the Indian Chief Red Cloud, not American Presidents. Nor are most visitors aware that they are viewing an unfinished monument- a project abandoned at the dawn of World War II. Learn these and other interesting facts about this monument to greatness. The instructor will be presenting remote.

What Americans eat has changed drastically in the past 100 years. Award-winning historian Allen Pietrobon will lead a visual journey through the culinary history of the United States during the past 100 years.

Explore watershed moments and crises, such as Prohibition, World War II and the urban riots of 1967-68, that radically changed how and what we eat. These moments had unintended consequences that flooded the American food landscape with cheaper, faster, and more highly-processed foods. The speaker will be presenting remote.

Native Americans are likely to be sidelined in the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. In this talk, expert Colin Calloway will restore them to their central role in the coming and course of the Revolution, in the presidency of George Washington, and in the development of the new nation. He will be presenting remote.

At its outset in 2001, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan had near-unanimous public support. The initial goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and U.S. officials lost sight of their objectives.

Distracted by the war in Iraq, the U.S. military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory.

Craig Whitlock is an investigative reporter for The Washington Post and the author of #1 New York Times bestselling book, The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War (Simon & Schuster: 2021).

For nearly a century, the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and the Crash of 1929 have stood as standards by which we measure all other financial manias and crises. And yet, the Jazz Age stock market was unique. Both the rate of increase in stock prices and the extent of public participation in the stock market were exceptional by historical standards. Ever since, commentators have reflected upon the 1920s stock market, contemplating questions of price, value, and valuation.

In this lecture presentation by Organization of American Historians Lecturer Dr. Julia Ott, Associate Professor of History at the New School in New York City, she explores these questions: Why do the prices of assets fluctuate? Where does financial value come from? Her re-examination of the Great Bull Market of the 1920s reveals how financial values emerge from – and remake – their political, institutional, and ideological context. Changes in popular saving practices and in beliefs about financial securities and markets spurred the stock market in the 1920s.

The federal government’s campaigns to sell war bonds to fund the First World War set these transformations in motion. Distributors of corporate stock echoed those war loan drives after Armistice as they issued newly-credible promises about the bright future that mass investment would secure: renewed citizenship, social mobility and stability, and the reconciliation of democracy and industrial corporate capitalism. As the decade wore on, stocks grew more desirable- and valuable- as utopian narratives about mass stock-ownership circulated and credit flowed. Dr. Ott will be presenting remotely.

The Vietnam War left a lasting mark on the American psyche. It triggered budget deficits, ignited campus protests, and weakened U.S. influence abroad. Even decades after the final helicopter lifted off from Saigon, Americans remain divided over whether the war was justified or even winnable.

 Attend this remote presenter presentation to hear directly from the author as he explores the war’s complex legacy, enduring impact, and his use of recently declassified government archives in the US and UK to gain a fuller understanding of all aspects of the Vietnam War — political, military, economic, financial, and cultural.  Geoffrey Wawro is an eminent historian and author of seven books.  He is University Distinguished Research Professor and Founding Director of the Military History Center at the University of North Texas. He was previously Professor of Strategy & Policy and Professor of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island from 1996-2005. He has hosted multiple shows on History Channel, and appears regularly as an expert on History, Netflix, Discovery, and other outlets.

In the shadow of the nuclear arms race of the early Cold War, Norman Cousins, the prominent anti-nuclear activist and editor of the Saturday Review, engaged in secret missions behind the Iron Curtain to conduct high-stakes negotiations directly with the Soviet leadership on behalf of the American government. This talk will explore the culture and international politics of the 1950s & 60s, and take a fascinating look at the enormous impact one individual had on the course of American public debate, international humanitarianism, and Cold War diplomacy in the decades after World War Two. The speaker will be presenting remote.

Dr. Allen Pietrobon is an Associate Professor of History and Program Chair of the Global Affairs department at Trinity Washington University. His book, Norman Cousins: Peacemaker in the Atomic Age, explores the secret diplomatic missions the prominent journalist and anti-nuclear activist Norman Cousins conducted behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War. 

Curious about how the son of Slovakian immigrants became a Pop Art superstar? Join an Artist Educator for an interactive virtual tour of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA. They will introduce Warhol’s life and career and explore highlights of the museum's permanent collection, including works of art, film, and archival objects. The Artist Educator will be presenting remote.
Credit: Photo by Abby Warhola.