Trustee Mort Kondracke '60 discusses Jack Kemp

With the presidential election coming up rapidly, politics has once again risen to the forefront of our thoughts. Especially as primaries and caucuses for party nominations go on, the media and the public alike are debating likely nominees and general election scenarios. One reason for this even more intense than usual scrutiny, perhaps, is the great divergence in the ideologies of the candidates running this time. From Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump, the candidates run the whole gamut of political ideologies, and it seems that they are focusing on differentiating themselves from the other party more than ever. This extreme polarization of the candidates and the general populace supporting them is concerning to many.

On March 2, 2016, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center welcomed Dartmouth alum Morton Kondracke ’60 to discuss Jack Kemp and how his ideology may help turn the country away from such extremism. His remarks in particular focused on specific policies Jack Kemp suggested, and how those may help America revive growth, family prosperity and national morale.

Morton “Mort” Kondracke ’60 is a national journalist who currently works as the editor of Roll Call, the newspaper affiliate of The Economist covering the U.S. Congress. Previously, he served as the Jack Kemp Scholar at the Library of Congress, a senior editor at The New Republic, Washington bureau chief of Newsweek, and a Wall Street Journal columnist. He has also been a regular commentator at Fox News, The McLaughlin Group, and ABC’s This Week. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard from 1973-74, he has furthermore frequently appeared on Meet the Press and NPR, and was a panelist in the 1984 presidential debate. He currently serves on the boards of the Founders Council of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s Action Network, and authored Saving Milly: Love, Politics and Parkinson’s Disease, subject of a CBS Sunday Night Movie. At Dartmouth, Kondracke was the president of The Dartmouth, and received his AB in English. He was also a board member of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and served as his class secretary.

Submitted by Jeeihn Lee ’16, Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant for Public Programs

The views and opinions expressed and any materials presented during a public program are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Rockefeller Center or constitute an endorsement by the Center.