Newsletters

From Jon Meacham “One of the things we try to do here at Vanderbilt with this project is to look at unity … as a habit of heart and mind that enables us to negotiate the inherent differences, to live in tension with those differences, and not have a political culture in which the will […]

From Jon Meacham “January 6th is an inflection point. It’s either a step on the way to the abyss, or it is a call for citizens to engage and say that the work we are about [to form a more perfect union] is more important than the will or whim of a single man or a […]

From Bill Frist “I was there really, just because of public service. I wanted to serve the country…I wanted to have an impact. Instead of taking care of one patient one-on-one, I knew if I had good policy I could take care of thousands, hundreds of thousands and, ultimately, millions of people if I got lucky and I […]

From Bill Frist “Probably one of the most important things I did was the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which injected prescription drugs into Medicare for the first time. It was amazing to me, but being the only doctor in the Senate, I knew that prescription drugs were important to seniors….I led on that bill, the […]

Friends and fellow citizens,   As we all set off to gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy wants to offer words of wisdom on modeling civil conversations with loved ones. We spoke with Vanderbilt University Senior Lecturer and Director of Debate John Koch about how to talk with family […]

From Mayor David Holt “Mayors and councilmen in most cities know that we get to face all the voters. We don’t have to face a subset of the voters, and it just totally changes the way that we approach the job because we can build a coalition of normal, reasonable people that happen to be […]

From Mitch Weiss “When I was in government, I found many instances of great public servants coming together and making progress on the biggest challenges they saw.” – Mitch Weiss, former chief of staff and a partner to Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino   Friends and fellow citizens,   Municipalities typically address issues and implement solutions much more quickly and […]

From Karla McKanders “What stood out to me was the varied level of advocacy in the briefs the government was writing and the briefs on behalf of immigrants, some of them pro se. To be able to do this type of work while inspiring students to take on pro bono cases or become immigration-law practitioners became one of […]

From Nic Adams “It’s a lot easier to find common ground with folks than people think.” -Nic Adams, Professional Staff Member & Advisor to Senator Cornyn, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Friends and fellow citizens,   Whether forging consensus on landmark legislation or job hunting on Capitol Hill, relationships matter, according to a bipartisan group of […]

I’ve learned to have a thick skin and manage the most-disrespectful callers with what Barbara Boxer would call the ‘Art of Tough,’ that is, responding to constituent concerns with both politeness and fearlessness. Ivelisse Porroa-Garcia Policy Director, U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and President, Congressional Hispanic Staff Association Friends and fellow citizens, In a world that […]

From Michael Newton: “The Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy is an important effort based on dialogue, based on facts, reason, dignity, and respect where dissent is embraced as an opportunity for learning and inquiry, and not just an opportunity to destroy.”   -Michael Newton, Professor of Law and Political Science at Vanderbilt University   Friends and […]

From Paul Mango: “Sometime the American people confuse new information with misinformation. What we knew in January and February of 2020 is radically different about this [COVID-19] virus than what we know today.”  – Paul Mango, former deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in the Trump Administration (2018-2021), where he managed Operation Warp Speed  Friends and fellow citizens,   Between the viral school […]

From Dr. Alex Jahangir: “The best way to save millions of Tennesseans is to encourage vaccinations, to make it easy, and not buy into any rhetoric that vaccinations are problematic or there’s anything bad about them.” -Dr. Alex Jahangir, executive medical director of the Center for Trauma, Burn and Emergency General Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center   […]

From Rep. John Lewis:    “Nashville prepared me. If it hadn’t been for Nashville, I would not be the person I am now.”                                                                – Rep. John […]