The Leon Jaworski Public Program Series

The Leon Jaworski Public Program Series

Since 2001, the American Bar Association Division for Public Education has conducted the Leon Jaworski public program series. The Jaworski public programs have examined themes of law, politics, and culture and have operated on the premise that exploring fundamental legal identities and attributes help us better understand who we are as Americans.

2009 Event Details
9th Annual Leon Jaworski Public Program
Lincoln as Lawyer, Lincoln as Orator
Downloadable Public Program Now Available
2009 Program Booklet

Date and Location
Thursday, April 30, 2009
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Newseum (Interactive Museum of News)
555 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
Be sure to visit the Newseum's newest exhibit, Manhunt: Chasing Lincoln's Killer.

Presiding:

H. Thomas Wells Jr.
President, American Bar Association

Moderator:

John Milewski
Adjunct Faculty, Pennsylvania State University

Panelists:

Jean H. Baker
Professor of History
Goucher College

Andrew Delbanco
Professor of the Humanities and Director of American Studies
Columbia University

Allen Guelzo
Luce Professor of Civil War Era Studies and Professor of History
Gettysburg College

Frank J. Williams
Chief Justice
Rhode Island Supreme Court

Program Partners
Among the organizations with which the ABA is cooperating to conduct this program are the Newseum, Law Library of Congress, League of Women Voters, and Federation of State Humanities Councils.

Framing Questions
The program will focus on the 2009 Law Day theme: A Legacy of Liberty – Celebrating Lincoln's Bicentennial. Panelists will consider the framing questions indicated below and engage in a moderated discussion with the other panelists and the audience.

How did Abraham Lincoln’s background and experience as a lawyer influence his political values and practices, including his service as president?
To what extent did Lincoln integrate—or separate—ethics and the law, his sense of morality from his sense of duty to the law? His sense of duty to the law from his sense of responsibility to the nation?
What is the relationship between Lincoln the lawyer and Lincoln the orator? Can we imagine one without the other? How did Lincoln's lawyerly dispositions affect his oratory? How did his oratorical skills aid his legal practice?
How did religion shape and influence Lincoln’s oratory, legal and political?
Can we see the presence of "Lincoln the lawyer" in his most famous speeches and public pronouncements—for example, the Cooper Union speech, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Emancipation Proclamation, First and Second Inaugurals, and the Gettysburg Address? If so, what substance and form does it take?

For more information on Law Day, please visit www.lawday.org.

About Leon Jaworski
As American Bar Association president in 1971, Leon Jaworski established the committee that was the genesis of the Association's Division for Public Education. In 1983, a bequest from his estate generously established the Leon Jaworski Fund for Public Education, which continues to support annual public programs, such as this one, devoted to furthering public understanding of the law and legal system.