Forum Speakers

Jean-Bertrand Aristide
F. Lee Bailey [1], [2]
Howard Baker
Marion Barry
Gert Bastian
Melvin Belli, [1], [2]
Tony Benn
Julian Bond
Derek Bok
Edward Brooke
Art Buchwald & Andy Capp
Mary Bunting, Betty Friedan, Alma Lutz, Pauli Murray, Albert Sacks
Fidel Castro
Cesar Chavez
Ramsey Clark
Justice Tom Clark
Harvey Cox
Mario Cuomo
Phil Donahue
John Ehrlichman
Jerry Falwell

These images are for research use only and may NOT be used for commercial purposes
HLS Forum

Past Programs

RealAudio files hosted by the
Berkman Center for Internet and Society

Please click on the red links below to listen to these programs.

Many of the older selections have been edited for broadcast on Boston Radio Station WHDH, which aired Forum events from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. The more recent programs are presented in unedited form.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian speaks about the Ninth Amendment at HLS Forum on October 6, 2008. (video) Click here to view photos from the event.

“Crisis in Education” (Nathan Pusey – President, Harvard University; Frederick Weed – Headmaster, Roxbury Latin School; Dr. Robert Ulich – Harvard Graduate School of Education; Lee Dunn – Senior Advisor, Boston Latin School; moderator David Cavers – Assoc. Dean, Harvard Law School) – October 22, 1954

Walter Reuther, “Priorities for Survival”- May 1, 1960

General Maxwell Taylor, “Blueprint for Defense” (with panel including Dr. Henry Kissinger and others) – April 21, 1961

“The First Hundred Days” (Barry Goldwater and others) – April 30, 1961

“Unrest Within the Democratic Party” (Eleanor Roosevelt and others) – May 1, 1961- Part I, Part II

Dr. Leo Szilard (Professor of Bio-Physics, University of Chicago; Developer of Atomic Chain Reaction with Enrico Fermi) “Are We on the Road to War?” – November 17, 1961

Billy Graham, “Evangelism and the Intellectual”- April 1, 1962 – Part I, Part II

Jimmy Hoffa, “Area Contracts and the Teamsters” – April 8, 1962 – Part I, Part II

Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Future of Integration” – October 24, 1962 – Part I, Part II

Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, Member of Parliament, South Vietnam – October 14, 1963

Allen Dulles, “The Role of Intelligence in Policy Making” – December 13, 1963

Malcolm X – “The African Revolution and Its Impact on the American Negro” – December 16, 1964 – 30 second audio clip only

General Lewis Hershey, Director of The Selective Service System, “Future of the American Draft” – November 21, 1965

Bishop Fulton Sheen, “God and the Intellectual” – February 13, 1966

“Women – Dare We Not Discriminate?” – Betty Friedan (Author, The Feminine Mystique), Mary I. Bunting (President, Radcliffe College), Pauli Murray (Lawyer, Author, Jane Crow and the Law) – February 18, 1966

Edward Bennett Williams (Counsel to Joe McCarthy, Jimmy Hoffa, Bobby Baker, Adam Clayton Powell…) – October 14, 1966

“LSD: Methods of Control” (Dr. Timothy Leary, Dr. Norman Zinberg) – November 4, 1966

“$50 Billion for What? The Federal Welfare Program” (Dr. Ellen Winston, Edward C. Banfield, Daniel P. Moynihan) – December 9, 1966

“The Johnson Presidency” – Panel discussion with Prof. Hans Morgenthau, Robert Novak, and Prof. Adam Yarmolinsky – March 17, 1967

“American Movies: Growing Up?” – Panel discussion with Joshua Logan (Warner Brothers; Producer-Director of “Camelot”), Judith Crist (Film and Drama Critic, NBC-TV), Shirley Clark – (Director, “Underground,” “Portrait of Jason”) – October 27, 1967

“Abortion: The Issues” – Panel discussion with Dr. Alan Guttmacher (President, Planned Parenthood); Robert F. Drinan, S. J. (Dean, Boston College Law School); Hon. Albert Blumenthal (New York General Assembly) – December 4, 1967 – Part I, Part II

Justice Tom C. Clark (U.S. Supreme Court, Retired) – December 6, 1967 – Part I, Part II

Dr. Wernher Von Braun, “After the Moon –What?” – September 6, 1970 – Part I, Part II

George McGovern, “U.S. Foreign Policy: A Critique” – October 28, 1982

Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (U.S. Senator, D, South Carolina), “Economic Alternatives for the 80’s” – October 25, 1983

Caspar Weinberger – November 11, 1983

Alan Cranston (U.S. Senator, D., California), “Peace and Jobs” – November 30, 1983

Shimon Peres, “Israel: Today and Tomorrow” – December 5, 1983

Andrew Young (Mayor of Atlanta; Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.), “Civil Rights with a Global Perspective” – April 8, 1984 (first few minutes missing)

Stevie Wonder – April 19, 1984

Phyllis Schlafly – “The ERA – Is There a Future?” – April 25, 1984

Rev. Jerry Falwell, “The Role of Religion in Politics” (introduction by Professor Laurence Tribe) – September 20, 1984

Commandante Daniel Ortega (Coordinator of the Government of National Reconstruction of Nicaragua; Presidential Candidate, Nicaragua) (introduction by Carlos Fuentes) – October 8, 1984

Joseph Wapner (Judge, “The People’s Court”) – “Law, The Media, and ‘The People’s Court'” – October 25, 1984

Peter Jennings (ABC World News Tonight Anchorman and Chief Correspondent), “U.S.-Soviet Relations: A View From the Media” – February 21, 1985

Cesar Chavez (President, United Farm Workers of America) – “The New Grape Boycott — Will it Work in the Eighties?” – February 28, 1985 – Part I, Part II

John Chancellor (Commentator, NBC Nightly News), “Lawyers and Journalists: Differences and Similarities” – April 11, 1985

Simon Wiesenthal (Investigator of Nazi War Criminals), “Murders Among Us/ Consequences of the Holocaust” – November 16, 1985

Ed Koch – “Juvenile Crime” – February 12, 1986

Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Judge, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals) – February 16, 1986

Rev. William Sloane Coffin, “Religion and Politics” – February 25, 1986

Willie Brown, “Politics and the Press” – October 2, 1986

Rev. Jerry Falwell, “The Evangelical Vote: Is It Monolithic?” – October 6, 1986

Carl Sagan, “The Nuclear Arms Race” – October 23, 1986

Ted Turner – October 29, 1986

Rev. Jesse Jackson – Harvard Law School Forum Fortieth Anniversary Lecture – November 11, 1986

Dan Rather, “The Changing Role of Television News in America” – November 18, 1986

Sergio Ramirez (Vice-President of Nicaragua), “Nicaragua versus U.S. in the World Court: American Policy on Trial” – November 24, 1986

General William Westmoreland, “My Experiences with the Media – March 2, 1987 – Part I, Part II

Christy Hefner (President & CEO, Playboy Enterprises, Inc.), “Media, Morality and the First Amendment” – April 7, 1987

Paul Kirk (Chairman, Democratic National Committee), “The Politics of Values and the Value of Politics – 1988” – April 16, 1987

Judith Martin (“Miss Manners”), “Miss Manners Lays Down the Law” – April 22, 1987

Dennis Conner (Skipper, “Stars and Stripes”), “The America’s Cup: Past, Present and Future” – October 21, 1987

Lesley Stahl (Moderator, “Face the Nation”), “Network Television News Coverage in Washington, D.C.” – November 2, 1987

Rudolph Giuliani, “Organized Crime, Corruption, and Insider Trading: Current Happenings in the U.S. Attorney’s Office” – November 9, 1987

Arturo Cruz (Former Director, Unified Opposition in Nicaragua), “Why I Left the Contras” – November 19, 1987

Sheikh Zaki Yamani (Former Minister of Petroleum, Saudi Arabia), “Islam and Its Legal System: Past, Present and Future” November 24, 1987

Marybeth Whitehead Gould (Surrogate Mother in the “Baby M” Case) and Harold Cassidy (attorney to Ms. Gould), “The Baby M Case and its Effects on the Future of Surrogate Motherhood” – February 10, 1988

“The Homeless Crisis: A Street View” – Joyce Brown ( Homeless Woman who challenged NYC’s Homeless Policy) with her attorneys Norman Siegel & Robert Levy, NYCLU – February 18, 1988

Erma Bombeck, “The Exploitation of Kids, Family and Marriage for Profit” – March 15, 1988

Scott Turow, “1L Revisited: Thoughts on Legal Education After 10 Years in Legal Practice” – April 25, 1988

Alejandro Serrano Caldera (Nicaraguan Ambassador to the United Nations, Former President of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court) – December 1, 1988

Edward Asner, “Patriotism and Other Spectator Sports” – December 12, 1988

William Sessions (Director, FBI), “Balancing Individual Rights with the Rights of Society: Sensitive Investigative Techniques” – February 8, 1989

Madeline Kunin (Governor of Vermont), “The Power Shift to the States: View from the Executive Branch” – February 13, 1989

Marion Barry (Mayor of Washington, D.C.) – “The 90’s Challenge to Public Service” – October 30, 1989 – Part I, Part II

Maynard Jackson (Mayor of Atlanta) – April 25, 1990 – Part I, Part II

C. Boyden Gray (Special Counsel to President Bush), “The Bush Administration’s Environmental and Energy Policy” – October 23, 1990

Arthur Liman (Fmr. Chief Senate Counsel, Iran-Contra Investigation; Fmr. President, Legal Aid Society of New York; Fmr. Chief Counsel, New York Special Commission on
Attica) – “Can Congressional Investigations Be Conducted Fairly?” – November 14, 1991

Edwin Meese III (Former U.S. Attorney General), “Freedom, Free Speech and the Courts” – February 10, 1992

F. Lee Bailey, “Television in the Courts” – February 27, 1992

Nadine Strossen (President, American Civil Liberties Union), “Civil Liberties and the Supreme Court” – March 4, 1992

Dr. Ruth Westheimer – December 10, 1992

Jean Bertrand Aristide (President of Haiti) – April 8, 1994

“Public Policy Responses to the Changing Dynamics of the AIDS Epidemic” – panel discussion with Kristine Gebbie (National AIDS Policy Coordinator), Nicolàs Parkhurst Carballeira (Executive Director, Boston’s Latino Health Institute), Rodger McFarlane (Executive Director, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS), Mindy Thompson Fullilove (Assoc. Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Public Health, Columbia University), moderator Jean McGuire (Former Executive Director, AIDS Action Council) – April 26, 1994

Charlton Heston, “Winning the Cultural War” – February 16, 1999 –
Part I (prepared remarks); Part II – Q&A

Asa Hutchinson, “Prosecuting the President: Reflections of a House Manager” – March 22, 1999

Vince McMahon (Chairman, Titan Sports, Inc., World Wrestling Federation), “The First Amendment Firsthand” (edited) – April 15, 1999

Mario Cuomo, “Public Spirit in the Private Sector” – April 20, 1999 – Part I, Part II

Ralph Nader, “The Laws, The Practice, The Education: Continuing Illusion or Wake-up Time?” – October 29, 1999 – Part I, Part II

Jack Gargan (Chairman-elect, The Reform Party) “New Politics for the New Millennium” – December 2, 1999

Helen Thomas (Senior White House Correspondent, UPI), “Covering the Presidents: From Kennedy to Clinton” – February 23, 2000

Stephen Reinhardt (Judge, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals), “The Supreme Court and You: Life, Death and the Quality of Life” – March 1, 2000

Nadine Strossen (President, American Civil Liberties Union), “Current Challenges to Civil Liberties” – March 7, 2000

“Innocent on Death Row: The Causes of and Remedies for Unjust Convictions” – panel discussion with Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld & Jim Dwyer (authors, Actual Innocence); Richard Lewontin (Professor of Population Genetics, Harvard); Bill Kovach (Curator, Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard); Michael Seidman (Professor of Criminal Law, Georgetown); moderator Charles Nesson (Professor, Harvard Law School) – March 15, 2000

Arun Gandhi (Director, M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence), “The Enduring Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi: Lessons Learned from Grandfather” – March 20, 2000

Joel Klein (Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice), “Antitrust in the New Economy” – April 10, 2000

A RealAudio player is required to listen to these programs. (available from www.real.com)

These recordings are for research use only and may NOT be used for commercial purposes.

The original copies of these recordings are on deposit with the Harvard Law School Library Special Collections Department. Many historic Forum audio and video recordings not posted here are also part of the library collection.