ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. (Feb. 10, 2008) - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former lieutenant governor of the State of Maryland, daughter of former U.S. Attorney General Robert "Bobby" F. Kennedy, and chair of the board of directors of the University of Maryland's Human Virology Institute, will be giving a public lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. The lecture, titled "Notes from the Front: The Presidential Campaign-Democracy's Alternative to War," will be held in Cole Cinema in the Campus Center and is free and open to the public. A reception will be held afterwards in the Aldom Lounge.
"I will explore reasons for the excitement and interest in the campaign season, the strategies of the candidates and what all this says about America's future," Townsend said.
"Since Kennedy Townsend is a seasoned campaigner, I expect she has some battle stories to share with us, as an insider."
"Given the closeness of the race for the Democratic nomination for president, the intensity of the campaigns will only increase as they move into Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., and then on to other states," said Michael Taber, the director of the College's Paul H. Nitze Scholars Program, which is sponsoring Townsend's visits. "Since Kennedy Townsend is a seasoned campaigner, I expect she has some battle stories to share with us, as an insider."
This is Townsend's third of four scheduled public lectures at SMCM as the Paul H. Nitze Senior Fellow for 2007-08. Her first lecture was based on her book, Failing America's Faithful: How To-day's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way, which was published in 2007. Her second lecture focused on the role of women in politics, and her belief that this is the "breakthrough century for women."
"I am interested to hear her reflection on...the endorsements of Obama by some of the Kennedy family"
Anticipating her forthcoming talk on the evening after Maryland's presidential primary, Taber said, "I am interested to hear her reflection on the recent media attention about the endorsements of Obama by some of the Kennedy family. What does it mean for us in this day and age for a given candidate to remind us of JFK and RFK? Should we care, other than for reasons of nostalgia? Does this tell us more about the present-day candidate, or about our views of the past?"
Each year, the College invites an accomplished writer, journalist, or other professional figure to be the Nitze Senior Fellow and to make several visits to the campus. Last year, David Sanger, New York Times chief correspondent for the White House, met with classes in political science, econom-ics, and Nitze Program seminars, and had a discussion with the staff of the College newspaper, the Point News, about careers in journalism. Previously, author Edward P. Jones gave public readings from his Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Known World, and joined a panel discussion about why writers write.