Larry Wilmore
Comedian, Producer, Writer, and former host of "The Nightly Show"

***This Event Is Ticketed***

Tickets are free, but will be distributed by lottery. Enter the lottery HERE. The deadline for entries is midnight Tuesday, November 8. Winners will be notified via email on Wednesday, November 9. Winners must pick up their tickets at the Institute of Politics at HKS on Thursday, November 10 or Monday, November 14 between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. No exceptions.

Emmy award-winning comedian Larry Wilmore presented the 2016 Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics. He spoke about the results of, and his reaction to, the presidential election and its aftermath. Willmore also discussed the future of both political parties, analyzing the divisions created by both extremes of the political spectrum. Nicco Mele opened the event, presenting the David Nyhan Prize for Political Journalism to Nancy Kaffer, award-winning columnist and member of the editorial board at the Detroit Free Press. The Forum was sponsored by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.

Live Broadcast of ‘The Young Turks on Fusion’  

Are Republicans happy with the Election Result? Are moderate politics dead? How do Democratic communities rebuild voting support? 

The Young Turks Hosts Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola will be joined
by FUSION’s Felix Salmon and IOP Fellows Sarah Isgur Flores and Michael Blake for a post-election anaysis and discussion.
 

Cenk Uyur and John Iadarola, hosts of online news show The Young Turks, joined FUSION’s Felix Salmon and IOP Fellow Sarah Isgur Flores for a post-election analysis. The panel discussed why much of the media and polls called the election incorrectly as well the path forward for understanding public opinion. The speakers also spoke about the impending reformations within American politics and what might be expected from a Trump presidency. The Forum was a live broadcast partnering with The Young Turks and FUSION.

Ed Felten
Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
David Kenny
General Manager, IBM Watson
David C. Parkes
George F. Colony Professor of Computer Science, Harvard College
Rosalind Picard
Founder and Director, Affective Computing Research Group, MIT Media Lab
Juliette Kayyem (Moderator)
Belfer Lecturer in International Security, Harvard Kennedy School

Ed Felten, David Kenny, George C. Parkes, and Rosalind Picard joined moderator Juliette Kayyem for a Forum on the future of Artificial Intelligence. The discussion ranged from topics on impending government regulation to the more technical aspects of AI. The panelists paid particular attention to possible moral dilemmas related to programming the technology, itself. Questions from the audience largely concerned the potential setbacks of AI as a consequence of human biases and how we might overcome them. Overall, the panelists held optimistic views about the future of artificial intelligence.

Chuck Hagel
Joint Visiting Fellow, Institute of Politics and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
United States Secretary of Defense (2013 - 2015)
United States Senator from Nebraska (1997 -2009)

Chuck Hagel, the former Senator for Nebraska, and the US Defense Secretary from 2013 to 2015, spoke at the JFK Jr Forum at the beginning of November 2016 about his career and his prospects of the election to come. Speaking about his time in the Pentagon, the Obama administration, and the challenges of being a Senator, he offered ideas of the future of the Democrat Party and where the future problems in defense and the military may lie. On a resounding note, he also offered his advice to students about how to involve themselves within Defense.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
New York Times Best-Selling Author, "Writings on the Wall"- Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Moderator)
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor
Director, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research

***Harvard ID Only***
Seating is first-come, first-served. Doors will close when venue is full. 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joined moderator Henry Louis Gates, Jr., for a discussion of race relations in the United States. The speakers discussed social and political activism, their personal experiences, and the social responsibility of respected athlete-celebrities. The speakers then fielded questions from the audience.

Dmitri Alperovitch
Chief Technology Officer, CrowdStrike
Ben Buchanan
Postdoctoral Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Cyber Security Project, Harvard Kennedy School
Pamela Smith
President, Verified Voting
Michael Sulmeyer (moderator)
Director, Cyber Security Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Dmitri Alperovitch, Ben Buchanan, and Pamela Smith joined moderator Michael Sulmeyer for a discussion on the hacking of the election. The speakers discussed the dangers of our current electoral system, the difficulties of attribution, and national cyber security. The speakers then fielded questions from the audience.

Michèle Flournoy
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Center for a New American Security
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2009 -2012)
Graham Allison (moderator)
Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security, Michèle Flournoy joined Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Graham Allison for a conversation on American defense and security policy. First, Ms. Flournoy addressed ISIS, commenting that American priorities concern protecting America, its allies, and its interests as well as prohibiting humanitarian atrocities. She claimed that technological superiority should be prioritized in order for America to maintain its military influence as many nations around the world increasingly gain access to technologies such as drones and push back on American intervention in its foreign interests.

Jason Brennan
Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Chair and Provost's Distinguished Associate Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
Contributor, Bleeding Heart Libertarians
Ilya Somin
Professor of Law, George Mason University
Contributor, Washington Post “Volokh Conspiracy”
Melissa Williams
Visiting Scholar, Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School
Professor of Political Science & Founding Director, Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Christopher Robichaud (Moderator)
Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Jason Brennan, Ilya Somin, and Melissa Williams joined moderator Christopher Robichaud. The speakers discussed the current issues of democracy and possible solutions to these problems. Topics ranged from increased civil participation in the democratic process to biases among politicians. The panelists then fielded questions from the audience.

Jose Antonio Vargas
Journalist, Filmmaker, and Immigration Rights Activist
Founder, Define American
Nicco Mele (moderator)
Director, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Join us for the Final Presidential Debate on the Forum Big Screen!                                                                                                          
Hillary Clinton
vs.
Donald Trump
Doors Open at 8:00PM

***THIS FORUM WILL BE TICKETED***
To enter the lottery at HERE before Saturday, October 15 at midnight. Winners will be notified via email on Sunday, October 16.  Winners must pick up their tickets at the Institute of Politics on:  Monday, October 17 and Tuesday, October 18 between 9:00-5:00PM.

James Zogby
Co-founder & President, Arab American Institute
Diana L. Eck (moderator)
Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies and Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society, Harvard University

James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, joined Diana Eck, the Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard, for a conversation on the contemporary challenges faced by Arab Americans. Eck engaged Zogby on a variety of issues, ranging from how instances of American ignorance of Arab culture color the Arab American experience to how Arab peoples outside of the U.S. view Americans and American culture. Zogby thoughtfully bridged the oft-discussed divide perceived between his American and Arab cultural backgrounds, even offering his email to those in the audience wishing to continue the conversation after the forum. 

Jeff Zucker
President of CNN
Lois Romano (moderator)
Longtime Political Correspondent for the Washington Post
Institute of Politics Resident Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School (Spring 2008)

CNN President Jeff Zucker joined longtime Washington Post political correspondent and former IOP Fellow Lois Romero for a conversation on media and politics at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Zucker discussed the current election cycle and the sensationalist nature of news today, as well as his experiences that led him on the path toward becoming a top media executive.