Millennium Evenings at the White House are a series of
lectures and cultural showcases hosted by the President and First Lady that
highlight the creativity and inventiveness of the American people through our
ideas, art and scientific discoveries. The lectures present prominent scholars,
creators and visionaries and are acessible to the public via cybercast over the
internet and broadcast via satellite. Internet participants are encouraged to
email questions before or during the lecture. The broadcasts are usually
carried live by cable television and radio outlets though those decisions are
often made close to the time of the event. The Millennium Evenings are
sponsored by the National Endowment for the
Humanities with support from Sun
Microsystems.
Group gatherings at downlink sites (such as community
colleges, museums, schools, homes, libraries -- any place with a satellite
dish) offer the opportunity to hold local discussions or receptions around the
broadcast. Satellite coordinates are posted on the White House web page several
days before the event -- satellite time is bought on both the C and KU bands.
The cybercast can be accessed via the White House web page or Sun Microsystems
web page.
More Millennium Evenings at The White House are being planned
for the Year 2000. Please stay tuned for more information on these evenings and
check back often for updates to this site.
Previous Millennium
Evenings
The First Millennium Evening at The White House February 11,
1998
The Living Past – Commitments for the Future
Featuring honored guest Bernard Bailyn, Professor Emeritus at Harvard
University, and winner of the Pulitzer and Bancroft Prizes for his book
Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Professor Bailyn
discussed the core American ideas that shaped the nation and which we must
continue to pursue in the next century and the new millennium.
Remarks
by the President
Remarks by
Professor Bailyn
Watch the Video
Link
The Second Millennium Evening at The White House March 6, 1998
Information and Change – Science in the Next
Millennium
Featuring honored guest Stephen Hawking, the Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, UK. Professor Hawking drew on
his deep understanding of the laws of science and their effect on human life
and led a discussion on how scientific and technological advancements will
shape and be shaped by human knowledge.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
Remarks by
Stephen Hawking
Watch the
Video Link
The Third Millennium Evening at The White House April 22, 1998
The
American Voice in Poetry
Featuring present and past Poets
Laureate of the United States: Robert Pinsky, Robert Haas and Rita Dove. The
Poets Laureate recited excerpts of famous poems and spoke about the evolution
of poetry through the century. The President, Mrs. Clinton and members of the
audience read their favorite poems and participated in the discussion.
Remarks by the
President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
Watch the Video
Link
The Fourth Millennium Evening at The White House September 18,
1998
“Jazz: An Expression of Democracy”
Featuring renowned jazz musicians, scholars and a seventeen-piece jazz
band. The discussion was led by Grammy Award-Winning Artist Wynton Marsalis and
celebrated jazz pianist Marian McPartland, who explained how the development of
this unique American art form reflects the make-up of our democracy. Throughout
this discussion, musical selections by artists such as Diana Reeves and Billy
Taylor, are also included.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
The Fifth Millennium Evening at The White House January 25,
1999
The Meaning of the Millennium
Featuring two
distinguished scholars, Professor Natalie Zemon Davis and Professor Martin
Marty, who examined the meaning of the millennium from both the historical and
religious perspectives. This discussion offered a better understanding of how
humankind makes meaning of life through time, and how we shape our future by
the acts and commitments we make today.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
The Sixth Millennium Evening at The White House March 16, 1999
Women
as Citizen: Vital Voices Through the Century
A discussion on the
history of American women in civic life in the 20th Century, with Professor
Nancy Cott, Professor Alice Kessler-Harris and Dr. Ruth Simmons. The
evening's discussion focused on three themes: women as volunteers and
reformers, women's struggle for rights, and women in public and civic
life.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
Watch the Video
Link
The Seventh Millennium Evening at The White House April 12,
1999
The Perils of Indifference: Lessons Learned from a Violent
Century
Featuring Nobel Peace Prizewinner and Boston University
Professor Elie Wiesel. Mr. Wiesel, who has used his talents as an author and
teacher to promote action against indifference to human atrocities and
suffering, led this discussion with President and Mrs. Clinton to help us
understand the need for every individual to exercise their moral conscience in
the face of injustice.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
Watch the Video
Link
The Eighth Millennium Evening at The White House October, 12,
1999
Informatics Meets Genomics
Featuring Dr. Vinton Cerf,
Senior Vice President of Internet Architecture and Technology at MCI WorldCom,
and Dr. Eric Lander, Director of the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome
Research. Together with President and Mrs. Clinton, Dr. Cerf and Dr. Lander led
a discussion on the advantages and challenges posed by the increasingly
powerful developments of information technology and genetic research, and
knowledge about our own natural information system.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
Watch the Video
Link
The Ninth Millennium Evening at the White House June 12,
2000
Exploration Under the Sea, Beyond the Stars
Featuring
Dr. Marcia McNutt, President and CEO of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute and Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose
Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. Together with President
and Mrs. Clinton Dr. McNutt and Dr. Tyson examine what we are learning from
deep sea and deep space research and what these fields have in common. New
discoveries in these fields continue to inform each other, push human inquiry
to new questions, and alter humanity's perception of our place in the
universe.
Remarks
by the President, Mrs. Clinton and Honored Guests
Watch the
Video
Learn more about the launching of Millennium Evenings at The
White House
Remarks
by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on The Millennium Project and Millennium
Evenings |
