July and August Noontime Public Programs at the National Archives
Press Release · Thursday, June 28, 2018

Washington, DC

The National Archives continues its series of daytime programs on topics including the founding of the U.S.; Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; President Jimmy Carter; the Vietnam War; and the complicated relationships between our modern Presidents and their Vice Presidents.

These programs are free and open to the public and will be held at noon in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC.  Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.  Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. Reservations are recommended and can be made online. For those without reservations, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The Theater doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the program. Late seating will not be permitted 20 minutes after the program begins.

HISTORIC DEBATE: Rival Friends: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Discuss & Debate the Founding of the United States
Tuesday, July 3; Register; watch the live stream on our YouTube Channel
The personal friendship, patriotic collaboration, and political rivalry of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams spanned five decades. Together they fought to establish the new nation; later, they fought over the direction that nation would take. In the end, they gave future generations the precious example of two U.S. Presidents opposed to one another in politics yet allied in patriotism and mutual respect.

The two Founding Fathers (portrayed by Joseph Doyle and Steven Edenbo) will debate each other and take questions from the audience. Topics will include the Declaration of Independence, Alexander Hamilton, the Constitution, the Presidency, and any subject that the audience would like to introduce (provided it happened before July 4, 1826). This program is presented in collaboration with American Historical Theatre (www.AHTheatre.org ).

BOOK TALK & SIGNING: The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy
Monday, July 9; Register; watch the live stream on our YouTube Channel
No issue in America in the 1960s was more vital than civil rights, and no two public figures were more crucial in the drama of race relations in this era than Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. Fifty years later, noted journalist David Margolick explores the untold story of the complex and ever-evolving relationship between these two American icons.

BOOK TALK & SIGNING: President Carter: The White House Years
Tuesday, July 17; Register; watch the live stream on our YouTube Channel  
Stuart Eizenstat was at Jimmy Carter’s side from his political rise in Georgia through four years in the White House, where he served as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor. Famous for the legal pads he took to every meeting, he draws on notes and interviews to write a comprehensive history of an underappreciated President—and to give an intimate view on how the Presidency works.

BOOK TALK & SIGNING: A Tiger Among Us: A Story of Valor in Vietnam’s A Shau Valley
Wednesday, July 18; Register; watch the live stream on our YouTube Channel     
In March 1966, future Medal of Honor recipient Bennie Adkins and 16 other Green Berets held their undermanned and unfortified position at Camp A Shau along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. In A Tiger Among Us, Adkins tells the story of how this small group of warriors out-fought and out-maneuvered their enemies, and how a remarkable number of them lived to tell about it.

“Remembering Vietnam” is presented in part by the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, AARP, FedEx Corporation, and the National Archives Foundation. Additional support provided by the Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, The Eliasberg Family Foundation, Inc., and HISTORYⓇ.

FILM SCREENING: From the Vaults: Remembering Vietnam
Friday, July 20; Register
The third in a series of archival selections from the National Archives’ motion picture holdings related to the war in Vietnam.
“Remembering Vietnam” is presented in part by the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, AARP, FedEx Corporation, and the National Archives Foundation. Additional support provided by the Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, The Eliasberg Family Foundation, Inc., and HISTORYⓇ.

BOOK TALK & SIGNING: First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power
Tuesday, July 24; Register; watch the live stream on our YouTube Channel   
In her latest book, First in Line, journalist and author Kate Andersen Brower explores the lives and roles of 13 modern Vice Presidents. Brower reveals the sometimes cold, sometimes close, and always complicated relationships between our modern Presidents and their Vice Presidents.

BOOK TALK & SIGNING: Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History
Wednesday, August 1; Register; watch the live stream on our YouTube Channel   
Indianapolis and her crew led the World War II Pacific fleet from Pearl Harbor to the Islands of Japan and delivered the world’s first atomic bomb to the Pacific in the most highly classified naval mission of the war. Join us as journalist Lynn Vincent and historian Sara Vladic reveal the stories of the Indianapolis crew, left adrift at sea for five days, after being torpedoed by a Japanese sub, and the survivors' 50-year fight for justice and the exoneration of their wrongfully court-martialed captain.