NEWS RELEASE

10/20/03

Mark Gonnerman, director of special projects, Continuing Studies Program: 650-723-5774, markg@stanford.edu

Relevant Web URLs:
http://auroraforum.org

Forum to examine notion of 'character' in American presidency

In the past half-century, the question of "character" has loomed over the American presidency. Does a person lacking integrity also lack the moral capital that leadership requires? Must the president be someone we can hold up as a model to our children? Why has presidential character become a major public concern?

These are just a few of the questions that that will be addressed at the first Aurora Forum of the academic year. "American Presidency: Character and Crisis" is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, in Kresge Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The panel will consist of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Kennedy, the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford, and presidential historian Michael Beschloss, author of the New York Times bestseller The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945. Michael Krasny, host and senior editor of KQED Radio's award-winning "Forum," will serve as moderator.

Sponsored by Stanford Continuing Studies, the Aurora Forum brings socially engaged writers, artists and scholars to Stanford to discuss the past, present and future of the nation's ideals and aspirations. For more information about the upcoming event or future forums, visit the web at http://auroraforum.org.

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