5:30 p.m., King Library
Please note this is a book discussion without the author present.
Join us for a special Talk of Kings book discussion led by historian Alvin Felzenberg, focusing on Thomas Jefferson in The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership. As the author of the chapter on Jefferson, Felzenberg will offer insight into his presidency, influence on the young nation, and complex legacy. This discussion, held in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, will explore Jefferson’s vision for America and the challenges he faced as a leader.
Facilitator: Dr. Alvin Felzenberg
Biography: Alvin S. Felzenberg in a nationally recognized expert on the American Presidency, the United States Congress, and political movements. A veteran of two presidential administrations, served as principal spokesman for the 9-11 Commission. He also served on a senior staff with the U.S. House of Representatives and as Assistant Secretary of State in New Jersey in the administration of Governor Thomas H. Kean. In that capacity, he was responsible for the direction of the state’s cultural affairs.
Felzenberg holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University as well as M.A. degrees from Princeton and Rutgers Universities, and a B.A. cum laude from Rutgers University.
For a dozen years, Dr. Felzenberg taught communications and political history at the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and has taught at, Princeton, Yale, Johns Hopkins and George Washington Universities.
He is the author of several books, including A Man and His Presidents: The Political Odyssey of William F. Buckley, Jr. (Yale University Press); The Leaders We Deserved…Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game (Basic Books), Governor Tom Kean: From the NJ Statehouse to the 9-11 Commission (Rutgers University Press), and Keys to a Successful Presidency (a study of presidential transitions). He has contributed chapters on significant historical figures to a series of books edited by Iain Dale: The Presidents (“Thomas Jefferson,”) Generals (“Douglas Mac Arthur”), Dictators (“Slobodan Milosevic”), and Presidential Elections (“Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960”).
Felzenberg is a former columnist for US News and World Report and Fox News. He has appeared on major television shows, including MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” CNN’s “The Michael Smerconish Show,” National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation,” C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” CNN’s “Crossfire,” and multiple others. He was one of the first guests on Florida Public Television’s “Between the Covers,” and serves as consulting historian to Public Television’s “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover.”
His writings have appeared in the Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, Politico and National Review. Since moving to Florida in 2019, Dr. Felzenberg has lectured at the Society for the Four Arts, the Courdert Institute, and the English Speaking Union in Naples and Winter Park, Florida.