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Jon Meacham
The Esther Elson Memorial Lecture
Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham is one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. A contributor to TIME, Meacham is a highly sought-after commentator, regularly appearing on MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets. A skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, Meacham has the unique ability to bring history to life and offer historical context to current events and issues impacting our daily lives – whether we realize it or not – to audiences of all backgrounds and levels of understanding.
Meacham served as Newsweek’s managing editor from 1998 to 2006 and as editor from 2006 to 2010. He released two podcasts with the History Channel: “Hope Through History” and “It Was Said.” The “Hope Through History” podcast explores some of the most historic and trying times in American History and how the nation dealt with the impact of these moments. Meacham is the author of multiple New York Times best-sellers, including The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, which won a Pulitzer Prize.
Meacham is a frequent guest on “Morning Joe,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and “The 11th Hour”, and was featured in Ken Burns’ documentary series “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.” Named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Meacham is a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University where he holds the Rogers Chair in the American Presidency.
His latest book, The Call to Serve, honors the 100th anniversary of George H.W. Bush’s birth and is an illuminating portrait of a man who was more than his politics.
Susie Elson is a former chairman of the Board of Trustees at The Four Arts. Her husband, Ambassador Edward Elson, is a former vice chairman of the board. Both have a long history of service and generosity to the Four Arts. Ambassador and Mrs. Elson created the memorial lecture in 2005 to honor Ambassador Elson’s mother Esther, who was a gifted artist and a long-time member of The Four Arts. Often the Elson speaker is selected from the arts, and past speakers have included Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christopher Plummer, Twyla Tharp, Itzhak Perlman, Placido Domingo, and actor Jim Carter from “Downton Abbey.”