Please note that this previously scheduled event, The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography
by Elaine Showalter, has been changed to the below.

Literature

Tuesday, April 4
8:00 PM

Seymour Morris Jr., author of Fit for the Presidency: Winners, Losers, What-Ifs and Also-Rans, on "Presidential Qualifications and Samuel Tilden"
   Every four years Americans embark on the ultimate carnival, the Super Bowl of democracy, a presidential election campaign filled with endless handshakes, speeches, and promises.
   But what were the candidates' actual qualifications? What had they accomplished that suggested their fitness for high office? What were their quirks and weaknesses they didn't want people to know about?
   In Fit for the Presidency? -- subject of a full-column article in the Wall Street Journal in January -- Mr. Morris applies an executive recruiter's approach to fifteen presidential candidates, five who made it and ten who did not. The result is a fresh and original look at a host of contenders from George Washington to William McAdoo, from DeWitt Clinton to Ronald Reagan. Gone is the fluff of presidential campaigns, replaced by a hard-headed perspective and new insights on what makes for a worthy candidate.
   Of particular interest to us all, of course, is his analysis of Samuel Tilden, a chapter in his book.
   Mr. Morris is an international business entrepreneur and founder of a cross-border leasing company. Now retired from business, he is a published historian. He is the author of American History Revised, published by Random House, and Supreme Commander: MacArthur's Triumph in Japan, published by HarperCollins.  He holds an AB from Harvard College, summa cum laude in American History, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.