Event Audio

Wendell Potter, a former VP of CIGNA, argues that health insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and skew political debate with multibillion-dollar PR campaigns to mislead the press and public.

Google is making its ultra-high-speed fiber optic network available to Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, residents in 2012. The Social Media Club of Kansas City invites people from both sides of the state line to come hear about a public-outreach campaign to spread awareness of Google Fiber and discuss ways of using the 1-gigabit Internet connection to enhance the quality of life for all citizens.

United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer discusses the role of the Court in American government and explains why he believes the justices should interpret the Constitution in a way that works in practice as well as in theory.

Breyer rejects approaches that look exclusively at the Constitution’s text or the 18th century views of the framers and instead advocates a pragmatic approach that applies unchanging constitutional values to ever-changing circumstances.

Co-sponsored by the Truman Library Institute.

Shawn Faulkner of the Military History Department at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth discusses the conditions faced by the average Civil War soldier – on and off the battlefield – in a presentation titled Jonny Reb and Billy Yank.

Faulkner explains the many factors that shaped the daily lives of the soldiers, including the quality and availability of food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Faulkner also answers the question: What motivated soldiers on both sides to fight and to endure the hardships of war?