Conversations with Bill Kristol

In this conversation, Gingrich gives an inside account of the 1994 Republican Revolution, when Republicans took control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. The former speaker also recalls his first political campaigns and how he began to influence Washington in the 1980s. Finally, Gingrich offers a personal take on mentors, allies, and rivals, including Gerald Ford, Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—as well as his reflections on presidents from Eisenhower to Obama.

Jim Manzi is the founder and chairman of Applied Predictive Technologies, a software company that enables businesses to design and conduct large-scale experiments, and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. In this conversation, Kristol and Manzi discuss how scientific trial-and-error might help us develop better business and policy practices. The two also reflect on the limits of science in politics and offer a modest defense of social science experimentation for policy making.

Ruth Wisse is Research Professor of Yiddish and Comparative Literature at Harvard and a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Tikvah Fund. In this conversation, Kristol and Wisse discuss the politics of anti-Semitism, why Israel is under attack in our universities, and the study of Yiddish literature. Wisse explains the nature of modern anti-Semitism and why it is best understood as a political phenomenon. She also reflects on a lifetime of teaching Yiddish literature, and discusses why we should read its great works.

In this conversation, Kristol and Hume discuss the early days of Fox News and the story of its ascent. Hume recalls his experiences in print journalism during the 1960's and 1970's and his work as a White House and Capitol Hill correspondent for ABC News during the 1980's and 1990's. Kristol and Hume also reflect on the media environment of today and its effects on American politics.

This conversation features former senator and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and "Weekly Standard" political analyst and staff writer Jay Cost. In the first segment, Kristol, Abraham, and Cost analyze the results of the 2014 midterm elections, confronting myths advanced by the media and considering aspects that have gone underreported. In the second segment, Kristol, Abraham, and Cost assess the possible impact of the midterms on the open-seat presidential election in 2016.

In this conversation, Kristol and Lieberman discuss key moments of Lieberman’s career in public service from his ascent in Connecticut politics to Gore-Lieberman in 2000, as well as his successful Senate campaign as an independent in 2006. Lieberman also reflects on colleagues and contemporaries such as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bob Dole, John McCain, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

The president of the American Enterprise Institute from 1986 to 2008, Christopher DeMuth is currently a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute. In this conversation, Kristol and DeMuth discuss political thinkers including Edward C. Banfield, James Q. Wilson, and Friedrich Hayek and consider how ideas shape policy. DeMuth also relates his story of a chance meeting with then-Senator Barack Obama and their discussion about Chicago politics.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Kristol and Cheney discuss momentous events in Cheney’s career, including his service as secretary of defense during the Gulf War, his work as chief of staff for President Ford, his leadership in Congress during the Reagan years, as well as 9/11 and its aftermath.

Gen. Jack Keane is a retired four-star general and former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army. The conversation focuses on the advice that led President Bush to change strategies in the Iraq War via the troop surge, Gen. Keane’s remarkable career in the military, and the threats we face today.

Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies, was the first outside investor in Facebook, and is the author of "Zero to One, Notes on StartUps, or How to Build the Future." The conversation focuses on Thiel's experiences founding companies, the state of technology and innovation, and the crisis in American higher education.

The second in an ongoing series with the distinguished Harvard government professor Harvey Mansfield, this conversation focuses on the political science of The Federalist, conservatism in America, and on feminism.

Mark Blitz is a professor of political philosophy at Claremont McKenna College and author, most recently, of "Plato's Political Philosophy." The discussion focuses on great thinkers in the history of political philosophy, ancient and modern (Plato, Aristotle, John Locke, Karl Marx, G.W.F. Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche) and the importance of studying them in contemporary America.

The Hertog Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and editor of the policy journal "National Affairs", Yuval Levin is a leading figure in the public policy movement that has come to be known as "Reform Conservatism." This conversation focuses on how conservatives—and conservatism—should respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century.

The Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Virginia, Paul Cantor is a leading scholar of Shakespeare as well as an authority on American popular culture. In part one of a two part series, Cantor discusses comedies, tragedies, and what Shakespeare can teach us about politics. Plays discussed including Hamlet, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Coriolanus, and Julius Caesar, among others. Visit www.thegreatthinkers.org for an online course on Shakespeare curated by Professor Cantor.

Charles Murray is one of America's most distinguished political scientists and the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This conversation focuses on Murray's groundbreaking books from "Losing Ground" to "Coming Apart," the controversies surrounding the publication of "The Bell Curve," as well as the economic and moral challenges that America faces today.

A fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Elliott Abrams discusses his career in Washington, mostly in the State Department and the White House. Much of the conversation focuses on Abrams work on Latin American affairs and, particularly, Israel and Middle Eastern affairs.

Leon Kass and Amy Kass were for many years teachers at the University of Chicago. There, they taught great books, political philosophy, the Hebrew bible, literature, and many other subjects as part of the university's then-commitment to a comprehensive education. This conversation focuses on the experience of teaching as well as considers themes such as love, friendship, and courtship in contemporary America.

The first in a series of conversations with the Harvard government professor Harvey Mansfield. In this conversation Mansfield discusses his work on Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, Niccolo Machiavelli, and the importance of political philosophy. He also discusses the influence of Leo Strauss.