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Leading scholar Jeffrey Rosen, in conversation with Akhil Reed Amar, explores the extraordinary story of the only man ever to serve as President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Discover how President William Howard Taft defended the Founding Fathers’ vision of American democracy.

Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center and the author of William Howard Taft. Akhil Reed Amar (moderator) is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University.

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Actress, model, and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini, in conversation with Antonio Monda, Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival, discusses her multifaceted life and career—from her famous roots as the daughter of legendary director Roberto Rossellini and actress Ingrid Bergman to her latest project as author of the new book My Chickens and I.

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With tensions between the U.S. and North Korea reaching unprecedented heights and the threat of nuclear confrontation dominating American news headlines, experts discuss the tenuous situation, uncover the political and diplomatic history of North Korea, and reveal the consequences of escalating conflict.

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9–9:30 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30–11 am: Program

Celebrated historians explore the complex legacy of Thomas Jefferson—from his leadership style to the writing of the Declaration of Independence, as well as his tenure as America’s first Secretary of State and the Minister to France during the Revolutionary era.

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From Abigail Adams and Dolley Madison to the present day, women have wrought enormous influence on the U.S. government. Experts survey and celebrate how women have affected the executive branch and the American republic as a whole.

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For all his other remarkable gifts, America’s 16th President was perhaps most talented of all in the art of political persuasion—both in person and in print.  During the dark days of the Civil War, Lincoln truly functioned as America’s “communicator-in-chief,” reaching out to an anxious, divided, tearful nation with warmth, humor, and great eloquence in order to seal the endurance and loyalty of the people.

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Architectural historian Barry Lewis takes us on a journey to Paris, where, in the 19th century, the French became pioneers of iron and glass construction—evolving from early century shopping galleries to the magnificent, mid-century iron-framed Saint Genevieve and National Libraries to the celebrated fin-de-siècle works: the Grand Palais and Eiffel Tower.

Barry Lewis is an architectural historian who specializes in European and American architecture from the 18th to 20th centuries.

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9–9:30 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30–11 am: Program

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Why did Germany lose the war? What role did the United States play in winning the war? How did the war’s ending lead to an even greater conflict a generation later? John Maurer explores these questions in a lecture on the dramatic and tragic events of 1918.

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9–9:30 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30–11 am: Program

In an in-depth conversation, legal scholar and national security expert Philip C. Bobbitt and Avril Haines, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, discuss the consequences and importance of national security in America today.

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Historian Craig L. Symonds uncovers how major battles from Dunkirk to Normandy and indelible figures including self-proclaimed “Navy men” Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were shaped and influenced by one of the most unforgiving and ever-changing battlefields of the Second World War: the ocean.

Craig L. Symonds is Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the U.S. Naval War College and author of World War II at Sea: A Global History.