JFK Library Forums

Alan Price, Director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum welcomed guests to JFK Space Fest 2019 and introduced a video greeting from NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Following this welcome and greeting, Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz, founder and CEO of the Ad Astra Rocket Company, discussed his research and career, including 25 years' service as a NASA astronaut and a veteran of seven space shuttle flights. He is the author of Dream's Journey and To Mars and Beyond, FAST!

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

Todd S. Purdum, staff writer at The Atlantic, discusses his new book, Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution, with Don Aucoin, chief theater critic for The Boston Globe.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, Apollo 11 Lunar Command Module pilot Michael Collins, former NASA administrator Charles Bolden, former director of the Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, and former NASA deputy administrator Dava Newman discuss NASA's past, present, and future with National Air and Space Museum director Ellen Stofan. This program is supported in part by Raytheon Company and Draper.

Watch the video of the event via the JFK Library website.

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This panel was part of the 2019 JFK Space Summit, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing and President Kennedy's vision that launched the effort to get there. Hosted by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, this day-long symposium highlighted the history that led to the first Moon landing, current scientific and technological space initiatives, and the future of space exploration. The program challenges Americans to learn from the past, draw inspiration from President Kennedy's vision, and renew our civic commitment to solving the great challenges of our own time.

His Excellency Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia, Nobel laureate, and Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, discusses key global issues and reflects on his distinguished career with Professor Ricardo Hausmann, director of Harvard's Center for International Development and former Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Award-winning author and Rice University professor of history Douglas Brinkley discusses his new book, American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard professor of history Fredrik Logevall. This program is supported in part by Raytheon Company and Draper.

Colin Calloway, Dartmouth professor of history and author of The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, The First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation, and Julia A. King, St.

Stuart E. Eizenstat, former chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter and Ambassador to the European Union, discusses his new book, President Carter: The White House Years, with Meredith Evans, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

You can watch this forum by visiting the event's webpage on the John F. Kennedy Library site.

Keith Hamilton Cobb, actor and author of American Moor, and David Howse, executive director of ArtsEmerson, examine the powerful role performance can play in catalyzing conversations on race, equality, and social challenges with Lizzy Cooper Davis, a professor at Emerson working at the intersection of arts and social justice.

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist, political commentator, and visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, examines the role of religion in American politics with Margery Eagan, co-host of WGBH's Boston Public Radio.

Panelists including Mara Liasson, NPR national political correspondent, Mark Preston, CNN executive director of political programming and senior political analyst, and Kate Zernike, political reporter for The New York Times interpret the results of the 2018 midterm elections. Nancy Cordes, chief congressional correspondent for CBS News, moderates.