As our country moves toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, the Washington Presidential Library and More Perfect are assembling leaders from Presidential Centers, the National Archives Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and other civic, philanthropic, and business partners to envision ways and means to revitalize our democracy and advance five foundational democracy goals.
Speakers
Danielle Allen
Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
Her work to make the world better for young people has taken her from teaching college and leading a $60 million university division to driving change at the helm of a $6 billion foundation, writing as a national opinion columnist, advocating democracy reform and civic education, and most recently, to running for governor of Massachusetts.
She is the author of numerous books and writes a column on constitutional democracy for the Washington Post. Outside the University, in her role as board chair for Partners in Democracy, she continues to advocate for democracy reform to create greater voice and access in our democracy, and drive progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all. She also serves on the board of the Cambridge Health Alliance, FairVote, and Democracy Fund, and is a Senior Adviser to More Perfect.
Dale R. Anglin
Dale R. Anglin is Inaugural Director of Press Forward, an initiative to reinvigorate local news across the United States.
Previously, she served as the Vice President for proactive grantmaking at the Cleveland Foundation, the world’s largest community foundation, where she worked to align the organization’s grantmaking initiatives to the ongoing needs of diverse communities in Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties. She also led the foundation’s journalism strategy, where she encouraged leaders to embrace local news and information as a community need and invest in a regional network of nonprofit journalism initiatives, including Signal Ohio. She served as an Alfred P. Sloan/Association for Public Policy and Management Fellow, on the Community Foundation of New Jersey board, and currently serves on the Charlotte Newcombe Foundation board.
Doug Bradburn
Douglas Bradburn is the President and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Dr. Bradburn is the author of The Citizenship Revolution: Politics and the Creation of the American Union, 1774-1804, and three anthologies, including Early Modern Virginia: Reconsidering the Old Dominion, the most significant book produced to mark the 400th anniversary of the English founding of Jamestown.
He is the co-founder and editor of the award-winning book series, Early American Histories, at the University of Virginia Press, and the winner of numerous awards, grants, and fellowships, including the yearlong Gilder Lehrman Research Fellowship at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. Before coming to Mount Vernon, Bradburn served as Chair of the History Department at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
John Bridgeland
John Bridgeland is Executive Chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, a civic moonshot factory to tap the entrepreneurial talent of Americans to solve public challenges together across divides. In this capacity, he is Founder and CEO of More Perfect, a national initiative with 34 Presidential Centers, National Archives Foundation, and more than 100 partners to align efforts in democratic renewal around 5 "Sustainable Democracy Goals." He is also CEO of COVID Collaborative and former CEO of Malaria No More.
He was appointed by President Obama to serve on the White House Council of Community Solutions and by President George W. Bush as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Assistant to the President, and first Director of the USA Freedom Corps after 9/11. He is the author of the book, Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America's Civic Spirit.
General Stanley McChrystal
Stanley McChrystal is a retired four-star general, the former commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan, and the former commander of the nation’s premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He is best known for developing and implementing a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, and for creating a cohesive counter-terrorism organization that revolutionized the interagency operating culture. A passionate advocate for national service and veterans' issues, General McChrystal is a Co-Chair of More Perfect, Chair of Service Year Alliance who believes that a year of national service should be a common expectation and opportunity for all young Americans. He is the author of many books, including Team of Teams, My Share of the Task, and Risk.
Manu Meel
Manu Meel is CEO of BridgeUSA, the largest and fastest growing student movement to bridge our differences and change how we talk politics. He also hosts the weekly podcast, The Hopeful Majority. Manu contributes to several news outlets, works on pro-democracy efforts nationally, and advises political leaders on reducing polarization.
In the past, Manu worked as an associate at the venture capital firm Amplo and at the Department of State as a political analyst in counterterrorism. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media platforms. In 2022, Manu was recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree for leading BridgeUSA.
Congressman Zach Wamp
Zach Wamp represented Tennessee’s Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2011. He is also the Co-Chair of the National Council on Election Integrity and Chairman of Issue One’s Reformers Caucus, the largest coalition of former members of Congress advocating political reform and accountability.
In Congress, he became a senior member on the House Appropriations Committee as well as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. He helped establish The Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor, The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force and the United States Department of Homeland Security following the events of September 11, 2001.
This year's Founding Debates event is held in partnership with More Perfect.