AMES, Iowa – Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich will deliver the 2023-24 Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science at Iowa State University next week.
Kasich’s lecture, titled “Socially Responsible Innovation,” will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, in the Memorial Union Great Hall on the ISU campus. The event is free and open to the public. This lecture will be recorded and available to view within 24-36 hours after its conclusion on the ISU Lectures Program’s Available Recordings page.
Kasich, a New York Times best-selling author and a contributor for MSNBC and NBC News, believes that unity is the answer to the country’s most common problems. He is known as a leading voice in promoting bipartisan solutions to health care reform, immigration and international trade, and has been one of the few Republicans to advocate for Medicaid’s expansion.
Kasich served as a member of Congress from central Ohio for 18 years. He was elected to the U.S. House at just 30 years old, after having become the youngest state senator in Ohio history. He went on to become the chairman of the House Budget Committee and balanced the federal budget four times — a feat not accomplished since. After leaving Congress in 2000, Kasich worked as a managing director in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers, where he helped companies secure the resources they needed to succeed and create jobs. He undertook a high-profile run for president in 2016, ultimately earning 154 delegates and shifting the tenor of debate from negative personal attacks to one of "light and hope." He was the final major challenger to Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
Drawing on decades of experience in the Ohio Statehouse and the halls of Congress, Kasich examines the key issues that will define the next decade of American public policy. From fiscal policy and healthcare to foreign affairs, Gov. Kasich will explain how the inability of America’s leaders to confront these mounting problems with legitimate solutions has disillusioned voters who see no progress from either party. Through it all, Governor Kasich reminds audiences that, at the end of the day, change comes from the bottom up.
This lecture will be delivered as a fireside chat format with Karen Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics and professor of political science. The Catt Center conducts research on women and politics, with a focus on Iowa, and promotes civic engagement.
The Manatt-Phelps Lecture Series, established in 2002 by the late Ambassador Charles T. Manatt and Kathleen Manatt and Thomas and Elizabeth Phelps, brings to campus a prominent practitioner or scholar to address issues of significance to the United States and Iowa. It is now overseen by Michele Manatt, daughter of Charles and Kathleen. Kasich’s appearance will mark the 20th anniversary of the lecture series.
Previous Manatt-Phelps lectures have featured ambassadors from crucial American allies and friends – France, Germany, India, Spain and Sweden – as well as distinguished leaders from America’s largest trading partners, such as Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs and Canada’s former minister of foreign affairs. Other lectures have been presented by then-U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Delaware), then-U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Indiana), Washington Post columnist and Brookings Institution senior fellow E.J. Dionne and former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, the ISU Department of Political Science, the Student Innovation Center and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by Student Government.
