The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan Speaker Series, hosted by The Mendel Center at Lake Michigan College, welcomes Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 7:30 pm.
During “The Art of Leadership: Lessons from the American Presidency,” Meacham explores what 21st-century leaders in different fields of endeavor can learn from the greatest moments of our common past. This presentation — non-partisan in content and tone — ranges from Jefferson’s pragmatism and JFK’s capacity to recover from his own mistakes to the management of conflicting egos as shown by Reagan and FDR and how George HW Bush dealt with the end of his Presidency. Meacham discusses how history can inform the decisions all of us make every day in positions that demand creative and innovative solutions.
Meacham is one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. A contributor to TIME and The New York Times Book Review, Meacham is a highly sought-after commentator, regularly appearing on CNN and other news outlets. In August 2020, he released another New York Times bestseller, His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope – the highly anticipated intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis. A skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, Meacham has the unique ability to bring historical context to the issues and events impacting our daily lives to audiences of all backgrounds.
Meacham’s #1 New York Times bestseller, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, examines the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in U.S. History when hope overcame division and fear. He is a co-author of Impeachment: An American History, which reveals the complicated motives behind the three impeachments in U.S. history.
His Presidential biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list. According to the Times, “Destiny and Power reflects the qualities of both subject and biographer: judicious, balanced, deliberative, with a deep appreciation of history and the personalities who shape it.” Meacham delivered eulogies for both President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.
A #1 New York Times bestseller, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power was hailed as “masterful and intimate” by Fortune magazine. Meacham’s other national bestsellers include Franklin and Winston, American Gospel, and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
A contributing editor at TIME, Meacham writes for the magazine’s Ideas section. He also pens “The Long View” column in The New York Times Book Review in which he “looks back at books that speak to our current historical and cultural moment.” He served as Newsweek’s managing editor from 1998 to 2006 and editor from 2006 to 2010. The New York Times called him “one of the most influential editors in the news magazine business.”
Meacham is a frequent guest on Morning Joe; Real Time with Bill Maher; The 11th Hour, and was featured in Ken Burns’ documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Fox News produced an hour-long special about Meacham’s Destiney and Power in November 2015.
Named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of the Society of American Historians, and chairs the National Advisory Board of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University. Meacham is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of History at The University of the South and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt. He is currently at work on a biography of James and Dolley Madison.
A pre-presentation buffet dinner will be served in newly renovated Grand Upton Hall. Dinner begins at 5:30 pm. Following dinner, ticket holders for Meacham’s presentation will take a short walk through The Mendel Center to the Mainstage. Dinner and presentation tickets are sold separately.
General admission presentation seats ($50 – $80) and dinner tickets ($35) are on sale now at www.TheMendelCenter.com/events, by calling 269-927-8700, option 1, or by visiting The Mendel Center Box Office in person. The box office is open weekdays from 2 to 6 pm by phone, and in-person during those hours Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Speaker Series memberships of three or more events are still available for the 2021-2022 season. Member benefits include speaker ticket discounts, discounts on pre-speaker dinner tickets, discounted on Mainstage Performance Series tickets, and priority ticket purchasing for the 2022-2023 season.
