BRATTLEBORO — University of Vermont professor Frank Bryan will discuss the history of ranking presidential “greatness” and consider the Obama presidency in a talk at Brattleboro's Brooks Memorial Library on Jan. 5.
His talk, “The Impossible Presidency and Obama's Chance for Greatness,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series and takes place at 7 p.m.
Bryan will point out that though scholars rank several presidents as “great” who served prior to 1952, there is no agreement that the United States has had a great president since. Bryan will examine the tenures of these later presidents and consider President Obama's and his successors' chances for reversing the trend.
Bryan is the author of Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How it Works and is a professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont.
The Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in Brattleboro are held at Brooks Memorial Library. The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities, and open to the public.
Upcoming Brattleboro talks include “Beethoven's Sketchbooks” with pianist Michael Arnowitt on Feb. 2, “The Towering Inferno” with Dante translator Michael Palma on March 2, and “Did Karl Marx Predict the Cuban Revolution?” with Amherst professor Javier Corrales on April 6.
For more information, contact Brooks Memorial Library at 802-254-5290 or the Vermont Humanities Council at 802-262-2626, [email protected], or www.vermonthumanities.org.