Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine: Reflections on Space, Aliens, and Frontiers of Exploration.
The Buckley Program hosted Jim Bridenstine for a lecture titled “American Preeminence in Space” on April 27, 2023. Jim Bridenstine served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Before that, he was a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy and Congressman representing Oklahoma’s 1st congressional district. William Wang: I am…
Interview with Matt Taibbi
On April 25, 2023, the Buckley Institute hosted Matt Taibbi for a talk on censorship and the Twitter Files. Matt Taibbi is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, an award-winning columnist for Rolling Stone, and one of the lead journalists covering The Twitter Files. His recent book, Hate, Inc., is a turbocharged take…
Beverly Gage: Reflections on Hoover, the FBI, and Writing History.
The Buckley Program hosted Beverly Gage for a dinner seminar on March 7, 2023. Beverly Gage is a professor of 20th-century U.S. history at Yale University. Her courses focus on American politics, government, and social movements. The following interview was conducted on April 4, 2023. William Wang: Since you worked on this book for over…
An Interview with Ilya Shapiro
On September 13, 2022 the Buckley Program at Yale hosted Ilya Shapiro and Robert Leider with Yale Law Professor E. Donald Elliott for a Supreme Court Roundup Discussion on Dobbs, Bruen, and West Virginia. Mr. Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Previously he was executive director and…
An Interview with Josh Hammer
“When the Left is throwing everything they have at us, and they are, it simply calls for a more vigorous, more muscular response. Conservatives, or right-of-center people, or whatever you want to call us, have to be willing to use power a little more pragmatically and prudentially to achieve our ends.”
Interview with Senator Ted Cruz, Michael Knowles ’12, and Liz Wheeler
On Monday April 11, 2022, the Buckley Program at Yale hosted Senator Ted Cruz, Mr. Michael Knowles ‘12, and Ms. Liz Wheeler for a live taping of the podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” at the Omni New Haven Hotel. A link to the podcast episode can be found here. The event was made possible by…
Interview With Matthew Kroenig
The Buckley Program hosted Professor Matthew Kroenig and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis on February 3rd, 2022 for a Firing Line Debate on US Nuclear Strategy. Matthew Kroenig is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A 2019 study in Perspectives on Politics ranked him…
Interview With Jeffrey Lewis
The Buckley Program hosted Professor Matthew Kroenig and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis on February 3rd, 2022 for a Firing Line Debate on US Nuclear Strategy. Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at CNS. Before coming to CNS, he was the director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative at the…
Interview With Elbridge Colby
The Buckley Program hosted Mr. Elbridge Colby and Professor Patrick Porter on October 14th for a Firing Line Debate on US Strategy in Taiwan. Elbridge Colby is the co-founder and principal of The Marathon Initiative, a policy initiative focused on developing strategies to prepare the United States for an era of sustained great power competition.…
Interview with Matthew Continetti
The Buckley Program hosted Matthew Continetti for a seminar series from October 1st to October 15th. The seminar was titled, “Conservatism: Past and Present.” Matthew Continetti is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where his work is focused on American political thought and history, with a particular focus on the development of the Republican Party…
Interview with Adam White
The Buckley Program hosted Adam White for a seminar series from October 29th to November 12th. The seminar was titled “Keeping A Republic: Constitutional Virtues and Institutions.” Adam White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism, the Supreme Court, and the administrative state. He is also an…
Interview with Patrick Deneen
The Buckley Program hosted Professor Patrick Deneen for a seminar series from March 12th to 26th. The seminar was titled “Reviving the Mixed Constitution: How to Overcome the Elite-Populist Divide.” Patrick Deneen is Professor of Political Science and holds the David A. Potenziani Memorial Chair of Constitutional Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He…
Interview with Dr. Michael Auslin
The Buckley Program hosted Dr. Michael Auslin for a seminar series on the Turbulent Pacific from February 12th to 26th. Michael Auslin, PhD, is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian by training, he specializes in US policy in Asia and geopolitical issues in…
Interview with Professor David Schleicher
On February 11, the Buckley Program hosted a Firing Line Debate on the direct election of senators between Professor Todd Zywicki and Professor David Schleicher. Professor Schleicher is a law professor at Yale Law School and is an expert in election law, land use, local government law, federalism, state and local finance, municipal bankruptcy, and…
Interview with Professor Todd Zywicki
On February 11, the Buckley Program hosted a Firing Line Debate on the direct election of senators between Professor Todd Zywicki and Professor David Schleicher. Professor Zywicki is a law professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, and former Executive Director at the George Mason…
Interview with Ryszard Legutko
On May 28, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture with Ryszard Legutko on the topic “The Specter of New Despotism: On Similarities between Communism and Liberal Democracy.” Ryszard Legutko is a professor of philosophy at Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and the author of The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies. He…
Interview with Josh Blackman
On May 11, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture with Josh Blackman on the topic “The Constitution in the Time of Coronavirus” as the second edition of our new “What I Would Have Said” lecture series. Professor Blackman specializes in constitutional law, the United States Supreme Court, and the intersection of law and technology. He…
Interview with Christina Hoff Sommers
On April 27, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture with Christina Hoff Sommers on the topic “What’s Right (and Badly Wrong) with Feminism” in the debut of the Buckley Program’s new “What I Would Have Said” lecture series. Dr. Sommers is the author of many books, some of her most well-known include Who…
Interview with Inez Stepman and David Bergeron
On April 21, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a Firing Line debate between David Bergeron and Inez Stepman on the topic “Forgiving Student Debt and Making College Free.” Inez Stepman is a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum. She has worked in education policy for seven years, and prior to joining the Independent…
Interview with Howard Forman
On April 1, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture with Howard Forman on the topic “Assessing Trump’s China Strategy. Dr. Forman is a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Public Health (Health Policy), Management, and Economics at Yale. He teaches healthcare economics at Yale College as well as directs the Health Care management…
Interview with Michael Lewis
On March 25, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture with Michael Lewis on the topic “Art History at Yale.” Michael J. Lewis teaches modern architecture and American art at Williams College, and he is the architecture critic for the Wall Street Journal. Professor Lewis is also the author of the Commentary article “Yale’s…
Interview with Nick Loris and Tim Weiskel
On March 4, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a Firing Line Debate with Nick Loris and Tim Weiskel on “Fossil Fuel Divestment.” Mr. Loris is currently the Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Dr.…
Interview with Michael Pillsbury
On February 24, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture and dinner seminar with Michael Pillsbury on the topic “Assessing Trump’s China Strategy. Dr. Pillsbury is a senior fellow and director for Chinese strategy at the Hudson Institute. He is also a distinguished defense policy adviser, former high-ranking government official, and author of numerous…
Interview with David Azerrad and Alex Nowrasteh
On February 20, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a Firing Line Debate with David Azerrad and Alex Nowrasteh on “Merit Based Immigration.” Dr. Azerrad is currently an assistant professor at Hillsdale College and was formerly the director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics and an AWC Family Foundation Fellow at the…
Interview with Rich Lowry
On February 13, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a public lecture and dinner seminar with Rich Lowry to discuss “The Case for Nationalism,” which is also the title of his new book published this past November. Mr. Lowry is the editor-in-chief of National Review. A respected conservative voice, he is a syndicated columnist and political commentator…
Interview with Professor Carlos Eire
On February 10, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a dinner seminar with Professor Carlos Eire GRD’79 to discuss his recent comments regarding the state of intellectual diversity on college campuses and in the field of academia. Professor Eire is the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University. This transcript has…
Interview with Ambassador Robert Ford and Mona Yacoubian
On January 27, 2020, the Buckley Program hosted a Firing Line Debate with Ambassador Robert Ford and Mona Yacoubian on “Trump’s Syria Withdrawal and America’s National Interest.” Ambassador Ford is a former American ambassador to Syria. Ms. Yacoubian is the Senior Advisor to the Vice President of Middle East & Africa at the Institute for Peace. This…
Interview with Richard Brookhiser
“So, pay attention to what you’re doing as an undergraduate. It may actually have an effect on what you do.”
Interview with Dr. Jay Winik
“My message is our democracy is very strong, and institutions are very strong. This isn’t the first time in history where we have had internal chaos”
Interview with Noah Rothman
“Left unchecked, my belief is that the prescriptions social justice advocates want for American institutions are unrealizable.”
A Conversation with Jonah Goldberg
I think one of the healthy things for young conservatives is that they understand that there’s a moral and philosophical component that is distinct from just all the wins and all the “liberal tears are delicious” garbage. Owning that is a good thing. It is a healthy thing.
An Interview with Judge Ken Starr
I don’t think it was good for the Senate, I don’t think it was good for the Supreme Court, and I don’t think it was good for the country
Interview with Michael Johns, Co-Founder of the U.S. Tea Party Movement
“…the real victory of the Tea Party movement is creating an avenue for centrist political activism for Americans who share our three founding principles: adherence to the U.S. Constitution, limited government, and lower taxes. Many Americans who share these values were standing demoralized on the sidelines because they had no one they really identified with.…
Interview with AEI’s Peter Wallison
“We are going to have another serious crisis because the problems that caused the crisis of 2008 have not been solved. In fact, they haven’t even been touched. When it occurs, I can guarantee you people won’t say ‘the government should get out.’ People are going to say ‘we need more government control over the…
The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez on American Identity
In the face of increased prevalence of so-called “buzzwords” like “identity politics” and “lived experience,” the William F. Buckley Program had the chance to hear from a speaker who specializes in this atomization of American culture and politics, and has consistently worked across the spectrum to fix it.
The Heritage Foundation’s Dr. Lee Edwards on the History of the Conservative Movement
On Thursday December 7th, Dr. Lee Edwards spoke with Buckley Fellows over dinner in New Haven. One Fellow spoke with Dr. Edwards before the dinner seminar, and her thoughts are printed below. Dr. Edwards, distinguished fellow in conservative thought at The Heritage Foundation, is a leading historian of American conservatism and the author or editor of…
Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett on the Constitution and Originalism
On November 4th, 2017, Randy Barnett spoke at the Buckley Program’s conference on The Constitution and the Courts. Randy Barnett is a professor of legal theory at the Georgetown University Law Center and as well as Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. He is a leading scholar in constitutional originalism, and has written…
Jonathan Turley on Expanding the Supreme Court
On November 4th, 2017, Professor Turley spoke at the Buckley Program’s conference on The Constitution and the Courts. Professor Turley joined the GW Law faculty in 1990, and in 1998, became the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history. He has written more than three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading…
Cato’s Ilya Shapiro on Religious Freedom in the Courts
On November 4th, 2017, Ilya Shapiro spoke at the Buckley Program’s conference on The Constitution and the Courts. Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal,…
Stanford Law Professor Michael McConnell on his Career and Originalism
On November 4th, 2017, Professor Michael McConnell spoke at the Buckley Program’s conference on The Constitution and the Courts. Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to the summer of 2009, he…
Adam White on the Proper Role of Bureaucrats
On November 4th, 2017, Adam White spoke at the Buckley Program’s conference on The Constitution and the Courts. Adam J. White is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he also teaches Administrative Law.…
Mollie Hemingway on Religious Liberty in Modern America
On November 4th, 2017, Mollie Hemingway spoke at the Buckley Program’s conference on The Constitution and the Courts. Mollie Hemingway is a senior editor at The Federalist. A longtime journalist, her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, CNN, National Review, GetReligion, Ricochet,…
Columbia Law Professor Philip Hamburger on the Administrative State
On November 4th, 2017, Professor Philip Hamburger spoke on a panel Federalism and the Modern Administrative State at the Buckley Program’s conference The Constitution and the Courts. Hamburger is the Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor at the Columbia University School of Law. He is a leading scholar of constitutional law and its history, specifically the…
Interview with Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham
On September 13th, the Buckley Program hosted a conversation with Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham on their book End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun). Ham is a CNN contributor and moderated a 2016 Republican Primary debate. Benson is a frequent Fox News contributor…
Professor Noël Valis on Free Speech and “Thinking for Yourself”
Earlier this Fall, Professor Noël Valis was among a number of professors at Yale, Harvard, and Princeton to sign a letter (republished by The Beacon here) urging students to “Think for yourself.” In the following interview, lightly edited for clarity, Prof. Valis discusses the need for the letter and why she signed it. By: Noah Daponte-Smith Noah: How…
Book Review: Heather Hendershot’s “Open to Debate”
By: Abhay Rangray As I watch contemporary political media, I find the sound-bite style of discourse and the meaningless platitudes underwhelming. I wish that a more formal, long-form style of debate were present on television today. Dr. Heather Hendershot shares this lamentation in her book Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America…
On Buckley and the Modern Media Environment with MIT’s Heather Hendershot
Heather Hendershot, a Professor of Film and Media at MIT, visited the Buckley Program to discuss her recent book “Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line.” Prof. Hendershot is a Yale alumna, where she was in Berkeley College. The following transcript has been lightly edited from an interview just before she spoke with…
Of Judges and Justice with Michael Mukasey
By: Zach Young Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey came to speak at a Firing Line Debate on “Privacy and Security in a Digital World” hosted by the Buckley Program on April 20th, 2017. Michael Mukasey spoke in sharp, measured utterances. The one-time US Attorney General, district court chief judge, and fast-rising federal prosecutor now practices law at Debevoise &…
Interview with Charles C. W. Cooke, Editor of National Review Online
By: Emily Reinwald This interview with Charles C. W. Cooke was conducted before his discussion at the Buckley Program’s dinner seminar on Thursday, February 16th. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited from a longer interview. Mr. Cooke is the editor of National Review Online. His work has focused especially on Anglo-American history, British liberty, free speech, the…
Interview with J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy
By: Pranam Dey This interview was conducted before J.D. Vance spoke to the Buckley Program and its guests at the Omni Hotel in New Haven, CT on February 1st, 2017. The transcript has been condensed and lightly edited from a longer interview. J.D. Vance grew up in the Rust Belt city of Middletown, Ohio, and the…
Interview with Dr. Sally Satel, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and lecturer at Yale School of Medicine
By: Rob Henderson This interview with Dr. Sally Satel was conducted before her discussion at the Buckley Program’s dinner seminar on Wednesday, April 5th. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited from a longer interview. Dr. Sally Satel is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the staff psychiatrist at a methadone…
Interview with Stephen Kotkin, John P. Birkelund Professor in History and International Affairs at Princeton University
By: Declan Kunkel This interview with Princeton Professor Stephen Kotkin was conducted before his talk at the Buckley Program on Friday, March 3rd. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited from a longer interview. Stephen Kotkin is the John P. Birkelund Professor in History and International Affairs at Princeton University, where he has taught since…
Interview with Dr. Michael Auslin, author of “The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region”
By: Bernard Stanford This interview with Dr. Michael Auslin was conducted before his lecture for the Buckley Program on his recent book, The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region on Monday, March 6th. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Dr. Auslin is a resident scholar…
Interview with Dr. Paul Howard, Director of Health Policy at the Manhattan Institute
By: Pedro Enamorado This interview with Dr. Paul Howard was conducted before the Buckley Program’s Firing Line Debate on health care policy with Dr. Howard and Dr. Alice Rivlin on Wednesday, March 1st. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Dr. Howard is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and director of health policy. Dr. Howard was a…
Interview with Carol Liebau, President of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy
By: Madeline Fortier This interview with Carol Liebau was conducted before the Buckley Program’s dinner seminar on Connecticut state politics with her at Mory’s Temple Bar on Tuesday, February 21st. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited from a longer interview. Carol Liebau is the President of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy in…
Full Interview With Robert George
Below is the transcript of the interview conducted by Ugonna Eze ’16 before Robert George spoke at our 2/3 event U: Thank you Prof. George for agreeing to do this interview. RG: It’s my pleasure! U: One of the things I want to do in this interview is to pick your brain on what’s going…
Full Interview with Chris Michel
Caitlin Walsh Interview with Chris Michel, 9/12 (audio transcript) CW: Thank you so much for joining us for this interview with The Beacon. To start right off with your background, you’re originally from the Bay Area, from Dublin specifically, which is a very liberal part of the country. You went to Yale College and Yale…
Interview with Andrew McCarthy
BM: What exactly do you see as the relationship between extremism in the Middle East and Islam? AM: Well, what they are extreme about is Islam. It is a pretty direct relationship. It’s complex because it doesn’t mean that that it is the only way of interpreting Islam, but it is the dynamic Islam of…
Full Interview with Michael Auslin
Full Transcript: ZY: Thank you, Dr. Auslin, for joining us. We are really pleased to be able to interview you for The Beacon. Just to start off, you taught in Yale’s History Department for 7 years. What was that experience like? MA: Well, it was my first job so a lot of it was a learning experience. It…
Full Interview with Senator Jim DeMint
Full Transcript: JA: Senator DeMint, thank you so much for sitting down with me. To jump right into it, over the past year and a half, free speech has become one of the most pressing issues on college campuses. We’ve seen uninvited guests, the proliferation of so called “safe spaces,” and a growing aversion to…
An Interview with Jason Riley
BM: You’ve written a lot on social welfare and how it pertains to race and the problems associated with it. At heart, what is the bulk of the problem? Is it with the structure of the laws themselves or is it with their implementation? JR: I think the biggest problem is the incentives that have…
Full Interview with Professor Carlos Eire
[Full Transcript Below] Interview with Carlos Eire January 28, 2015 Conducted by Benjamin Marrow BM: As you know the Obama administration opened up relations with Cuba in december—what do you think the purpose was behind this move? CE: The purpose behind the move is for the man in the white house to make special claims for himself. That’s…
Full Interview with Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers
[Full Transcript Below] Interview with Christina Hoff Sommers January 23, 2015 Conducted by Joshua Altman JA: Dr. Sommers, thank you so much for sitting down with me today. My first question is about a phrase you often use, “equity feminism.” To distill it, the idea is that the metric of equality between men and women…
buckleybeacon.com 