America's Senator - The Unexpected Odyssey of Arthur H. Vandenberg

FAIN: GI-50518-12

Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI 49401-9403)
Gleaves Whitney (Project Director: April 2012 to August 2013)

Funding will support a national public program in November 2012, immediately following the U. S. presidential election. The purpose of the program is to educate students and the public on Vandenberg's career, and draw attention to its importance as a model for today of bipartisan cooperation and democracy in action. Occurring live in Vandenberg's hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, it will be simulcast online and in classrooms on selected college campuses across the country. It will feature a modified town hall format, with a thirty-minute keynote address, three twelve-minute talks, and a thirty-minute moderated conversation with our live and online audiences. Speakers will include a combination of four of the following seven scholars from the film: H. W. Brands (University of Texas), David M. Kennedy (Stanford University), Walter LaFeber (Cornell University), Michael Mandelbaum (Johns Hopkins University), Ellen Schrecker (Yeshiva University), Kiron Skinner (Carnegie Mellon University), and Richard Norton Smith (George Mason University). Their institutions will serve as a focus of the simulcast, which will be permanently archived and easily accessible online.