Making Patriots
About This Event

What is American Patriotism? What are its special roots? How can it be maintained? In his new book,

Making Patriots (May 2001, University of Chicago Press), Walter Berns addresses these difficult and urgent questions. Like all countries, America sometimes requires the devotion of its citizens and even the "last full measure of their devotion." Yet America is not like all other countries. It is founded on the concepts of equality and democracy--tenets that encourage individuality and autonomy far more readily than public spiritedness and self-sacrifice. How do self-interested individuals become patriots? Panelists will discuss this paradox and consider how American patriotism can be revived as we enter the twenty-first century.
Agenda

5:15 p.m.

Registration

5:30

Introduction:

Robert H. Bork, AEI

Panelists:

Walter Berns, AEI

Lynne V. Cheney, AEI

Eliot Cohen, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University

Francis Fukuyama, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University

Questions and Answers

7:00

Wine and Cheese Reception

AEI Participants

 

Walter
Berns
  • Walter Berns is also a professor emeritus at Georgetown University. A scholar of political philosophy and constitutional law, he has written extensively on American government and politics in both professional and popular journals. He is the author of numerous books on democracy, the Constitution, and patriotism. His most recent book is Democracy and the Constitution (AEI Press, 2006), a collection of essays. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2005.
  • Phone: 2028625859
    Email: wberns@aei.org

 

Lynne V.
Cheney
  • Lynne Cheney has spent much of her professional life writing and speaking about the importance of knowing American history and teaching it well. As chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993, she wrote and spoke about the importance of teaching children about the leaders, events, and ideas that have shaped our world, and she worked to provide opportunities for teachers to gain the in-depth knowledge that lies behind inspired instruction. Mrs. Cheney has worked to bring tales of the American past to a wide audience, writing articles about history for numerous publications on topics ranging from women's suffrage in the West to the way Americans celebrated the country's centennial. She has also turned her attention to children and their families, writing six bestselling history books for them, the most recent being We the People: The Story of Our Constitution (Simon & Schuster, 2008). She is currently working on an in-depth biography of James Madison.
  • Email: lcheney@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Cristina Allegretti
    Phone: 2028625918
    Email: cristina.allegretti@aei.org
AEI on Facebook