George Washington Leadership Lecture
The annual George Washington Leadership Lecture explores the Father of our Country's lifelong accomplishments, providing a better understanding of him as a person, as well as his remarkable leadership, professional achievements, and lasting legacy.
In 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected president of the United States, with the support of each participating elector. No other president since has come into office with a universal mandate to lead. In the years since, our national elections have become far more complex and divisive, with many competing factions and interests at work to influence the outcome.
This lecture series was established through a generous gift by Maribeth Borthwick '73, who also serves as the Vice Regent for California of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.
The George Washington Leadership Lecture is presented by the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the George Washington Presidential Library.
About the Presenters
David Sanger
Since graduating from Harvard University, David Sanger has been working for the New York Times. His current role is the White House and National Security Correspondent, reporting to President Biden and his administration. In his writings Sanger focuses on foreign policy and its intersection with technology, politics and superpower conflict. He has written four books throughout his career, The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power (Crown Publishing, 2009), Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power (Crown Publishing, 2012), and The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age (Crown Publishing, 2018). His latest book New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West explores America's plunge into simultaneous confrontations with both China and Russia.
Tyson Reeder
Tyson Reeder is assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University. His research focuses on early American transnational and international history. He is the author of Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America (Oxford University Press). He also authored Smugglers, Pirates, and Patriots: Free Trade in the Age of Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019) and numerous articles and book chapters, and he is the editor of The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations. Before joining BYU, he was an assistant professor at the University of Virginia, where he worked as an editor of the Papers of James Madison. Reeder received his Ph.D. from the University of California, a M.A. from George Mason University, and a B.A. from Utah State University all in History.
This annual event is held in partnership with the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.