The Yale Kerry Initiative will host the two-day conference, “Challenges to Democracy at Home and Abroad,” April 17-18, 2019, at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

The event will bring together key figures from government, the military, the press and academia on critical topics including the importance of alliances in advancing America’s interests abroad; the ways in which American voters are being marginalized and the democratic process undermined; America’s role in promoting freedom, democracy, and human rights around the world; the role of the press in defending democracy; and historical perspectives on how to protect our democracy.

Speakers and sessions topics include:

Session 1: The Importance of American Leadership in Defending Democracy: Military Perspective

• William Cohen, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, U.S. Senator and U.S. Congressman
• Chuck Hagel, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator
• Leon Panetta, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and U.S. Congressman, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Session 2: Defending Democracy at Home

Stacey Abrams, former minority leader, Georgia House of Representatives, and founder, Fight Fair Action

Session 3: The Importance of American Leadership in Defending Democracy: Diplomatic Perspectives from former Secretaries of State

• Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
• Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State

Session 4: Facts, Truth, and the Press

• David Ignatius, author and columnist for The Washington Post
• Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for NBC News
• Jason Rezaian, author and Global Opinions writer for The Washington Post
• Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author

Moderators for this session are Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC.

Closing Session: Historical Perspectives

• Michael Beschloss, historian and author
• Douglas Brinkley, author and professor of history at Rice University
• Beverly Gage, Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and of History at Yale University
• Robert Kagan, historian, author and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

The conference is open to the general public; advance registration is required.

For more information on how to register, please visit the Kerry Initiative website.