How We Got Here

The Park Avenue Armory has seen a parade of presidents and candidates come through its doors, from Rutherford B. Hayes to Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush. But who will be next? In the case of the 2016 election, what’s past is prologue. As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton face off for the presidency, history continues to shape the issues facing voters and candidates alike. Political commentator David Gergen will explore how political, social, and economic history—both in the American and global context—have shaped 2016 and what it means for Election Day on November 8th.

David Gergen is a professor of public service and co-director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, positions he has held for more than a decade. In addition, he serves as a senior political analyst for CNN and works actively with a rising generation of new leaders. Starting with the McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour in 1984, he has been a regular commentator on public affairs for some 30 years. In the past, he has served as a White House adviser to four U.S. presidents of both parties: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He wrote about those experiences in his New York Times bestseller, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton (Simon & Schuster, 2001). He is an honors graduate of Yale and the Harvard Law School, and has been awarded 27 honorary degrees.