Tag Archives: Politics
James Robenault

Robenalt, Dean speak on ethical lapses behind Watergate scandal

August 22, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

People hate losing more than they love winning.

It is knowledge that might seem common to competitive types, but it now has a name — prospect theory — and a Nobel Prize to back it. The theory, which describes behavioral economics and found that people dislike losing more than they like winning explains why people lie, cheat, cover up and act irrationally when they are in trouble. See the Monica Lewinsky or Penn State scandals, said Thompson Hine LLP partner James Robenalt, who has studied prospect theory in legal ethics and who now works closely with John Dean — former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon who was called “master manipulator of the cover-up” by the FBI and later became a key prosecution witness.

Robenalt and Dean will discuss the Watergate scandal and ethical obligations of lawyers at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Hall of Philosophy. Their conversation is titled “The Ethics of Clarity: Waking Up From Wrongdoing” and is based on their national tour of lectures on the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in.

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Interfaith Lecture Previews
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Smith

Smith explores ‘exclusive trade union’ between early presidents

August 22, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

If you asked Richard Norton Smith what his job is, he probably wouldn’t tell you that he is a presidential historian. Despite rightfully earning his title from years of work as a biographer, head of six presidential libraries and a scholar-in-residence of history, Smith’s passion has always been his love of history, not fulfilling titles.

Smith will take the lecture platform at 10:45 a.m. Thursday to fill in gaps on the Week Nine theme, “The Presidents Club.” His lecture, titled “Hail and Farewell: An Exclusive Trade Union,” will cover relationships between America’s early presidents, before Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy’s book begins with World War II-era presidents.

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Morning Lecture Previews
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The Capitol Steps Submitted photo.

Political humor group brings laughs to Amp tonight

August 22, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

To Larry King, “they’re the best. There’s no one like them, no one in their league.” And according to President George H. W. Bush, “the Capitol Steps make it easier to leave public life.”

With endorsements like that, who needs an introduction? At 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater, the Capitol Steps will prove, once again, that politics does not take a holiday where humor is concerned.

No matter who or what is in the headlines, the Capitol Steps will tackle both sides of the political spectrum and all things equally foolish. What more would you expect from the group that puts the “mock” in “democracy”?

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Evening Entertainment
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Naftali Photo by Lauren Rock.

Naftali: JFK, Ike put presidency above partisanship despite frosty relations

August 21, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 2 Comments

Timothy J. Naftali summed up Dwight D. Eisenhower’s feelings of John F. Kennedy in one sentence: “Eisenhower didn’t like the man, but he revered the office.”

Along with being the first director of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., Naftali’s career as a presidential historian includes directing the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia.

Naftali’s lecture, “The Peacock and the Bald Eagle: The Remarkable Relationship Between JFK and Eisenhower,” examined public and private comments the two presidents made about each other’s views on foreign policy, military strategy and social issues.

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Morning Lecture Recaps
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Naftali

Naftali sheds light on relationship between Ike, JFK

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Timothy J. Naftali, former director of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, is absolutely, definitely, cross his fingers and hope to die, not going to be speaking about former U.S. President Richard Nixon.

Rather, he will be speaking about “The Peacock and the Bald Eagle: The Remarkable Relationship between JFK and Eisenhower,” Tuesday morning at 10:45 a.m. in the Amphitheater, which continues to explore this week’s theme, “The Presidents Club.”

The relatively unreported chapter of the relationship between two presidents of different generations and different parties is also considerably more edifying than Nixonian reminiscences.

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Morning Lecture Previews
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White

White explores Lincoln’s faith through 2nd inaugural address in 1865

August 19, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

In a country hot with debate surrounding the economy, health care, war and gay rights, the ethics of presidential power are closely scrutinized — especially in an election year.

During this week’s Interfaith Lecture Series, experts on American leaders will discuss presidential ethics from the Civil War, World War II and the Manhattan Project, Vietnam and civil rights, and Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

Today, professor and presidential biographer Ronald White Jr. will talk about an ethically conscious, faith-oriented side of Abraham Lincoln that many biographers have neglected. His lecture, titled “Lincoln’s Sermon on the Mount: The Second Inaugural Address,” is at 2 p.m. Monday in the Hall of Philosophy.

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Interfaith Lecture Previews
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Gibbs

In ‘Presidents Club,’ Gibbs offers insight into exclusive fraternity

August 19, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

“It’s absolutely Chautauqua. It’s history. It’s biography. It’s interacting across boundaries. It’s political.”

Sherra Babcock, the director of the Department of Education, gushed about The Presidents Club, a book by Time editors Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, which also shares the same name as the morning lecture platform theme — it’s not a coincidence.

Four years ago, Gibbs told Institution President Tom Becker and Babcock that she and Duffy were working on a book about the “private side of the presidency.” Becker and Babcock agreed it would be a perfect morning lecture platform theme.

After years of patience and hard work, Gibbs kicks off the week at 10:45 a.m. Monday in the Amphitheater by exploring the roadmap of The Presidents Club.

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Morning Lecture Previews
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Maas

Maass to share true cost of oil

August 18, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 1 Comment

Americans obsessively watch the price of gasoline as it rises or falls. But author and journalist Peter Maass says that Americans are not thinking or even aware of the cost of oil to the societies at the other end of the pipeline.

Saturday at the 3 p.m. Contemporary Issues Forum in the Hall of Philosophy, Maass will describe that cost in his presentation “Crude World: Oil, Politics, Money, War — and Solutions.”

“I’m a narrative writer. I try to tell stories about how people are shaped by our need for oil,” Maass said.

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Contemporary Issues Forum
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