Conferences Archive (2000-2001)

This conference will focus on the presidency from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to William Jefferson Clinton, examining issues of presidential leadership, character and achievement. Scheduled approximately three weeks before the 2000 presidential election, the conference will provide sustained discussion of the problems, limitations and possibilities of the modern presidency.

This conference is free and open to the public.

Friday, October 13, 2000

12:00 p.m.
Coffee and Registration

1:00-1:15 p.m.
Welcoming Remarks

1:15-2:15 p.m.
William E. Leuchtenburg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“In the Shadow of FDR: From Truman to Clinton”

2:30-3:15 p.m.
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune
“The Presidency and Civil Rights”

3:30 p.m.
Panel: Presidential Character and Morality
Moderator: Melvin G. Holli, University of Illinois at Chicago
Thomas Reeves, Univ of Wisconsin, Parkside
“Character and Conduct in the White House”
Joan Hoff, Ohio University
“Personality, Character and Persona”

5:00-6:30 p.m.
Reception, Second floor, Chicago Illini Union

6:30 p.m.
Dinner and Speaker
Chicago Room A, Chicago Illini Union, 828 S. Wolcott
Introduction: Jay D. Doherty, President, City Club of Chicago
Dan Rostenkowski
“Presidents Who Have Known Me”

Saturday, October 14, 2000

8:30 a.m.
Coffee and registration

9:30-11:30 a.m.
Panel: Presidential Power and Leadership
Robert V. Remini, Moderator, University of Illinois at Chicago
Douglas Brinkley, University of New Orleans
Robert Dallek, University of California, Los Angeles
Betty Glad, University of South Carolina

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch Break

1:00-1:45 p.m.
Dinesh D’Souza, American Enterprise Institute
“Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader”

2:00-2:45 p.m.
David Maraniss, Washington Post
“How Clinton Changed Politics in America”

3:00-4:30 p.m.
Round Table: The Modern Presidency from FDR to Clinton

4:45-5:15 p.m.
Panel: Ranking the Presidents: Scholarship and the Media
Introduction, Fred W. Beuttler, University of Illinois at Chicago
Doris Graber, University of Illinois at Chicago
“Criteria for Evaluating Presidential Candidates”

5:15-5:45 p.m.
“Results of Presidential Ranking Poll”
Steve Neal, Chicago Sun-Times
Melvin G. Holli, University of Illinois at Chicago