JFK Library Forums

Roland Mesnier, White House executive pastry chef from 1979 - 2004, discusses his distinguished career and new book, Creating the Sweet World of White House Desserts: A Pastry Chef's Secrets with Sheryl Julian, former food editor of The Boston Globe.

Ash Carter, former Secretary of Defense and director of Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, discusses his distinguished career and new book, Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon with David Martin, national security correspondent for CBS News.

Tatiana Schlossberg, author of Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have, and Rachel Cleetus, climate and energy program policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, discuss the environmental impact inherent in our everyday choices with David Cash, dean of the McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee discusses her distinguished career and contemporary civil rights issues. Kenneth Mack, professor of law and history at Harvard University, moderates.

Senator Doug Jones, author of Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights, and William Baxley, former Attorney General of Alabama, discuss the decades-long efforts to prosecute the 16th Street Baptist Church bombers. Margaret Burnham, professor and founder and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University, moderates.

Award-winning author Evan Thomas and his wife Oscie Thomas, an attorney and frequent collaborator on his books, discuss his new book First: Sandra Day O'Connor, drawn from exclusive interviews and first-time access to the archives of America's first female Supreme Court justice. Barbara Perry, professor and director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, moderates.

Gerard Baker, editor at large at The Wall Street Journal, Ambassador (Ret.) Nicholas Burns, Harvard professor of diplomacy and international relations, and Karen Donfried, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, discuss current developments in the Brexit process with Elaine Papoulias, executive director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.

Former NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, currently Senior Technical Fellow for Mission Systems at Collins Aerospace Systems, discussed his experience from more than two decades at NASA, including his time aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Engineer Su Curley, who works on crew survival spacesuits and hardware for the Orion Program, including the journey to Mars, discussed current spacesuit technology and showed visitors how suits are used for spacewalking.

You can watch a video of this event on the JFK Library website.

Dr. Lonnie Johnson, founder of Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc, and holder of over 100 patents, discussed his career in invention – from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab to inventing the Super Soaker®, the most popular water toy in history.

You can watch a video of this event via the JFK Library's website.