University Times

Since 1970, Pitt's American Experience Distinguished Lecture Series has been luring pundits and politicians, editors and economists, media figures and military brass to the Pittsburgh campus.

The series will mark its 25th anniversary with an April 16 lecture by William Kristol, Republican Party strategist, editor and publisher of the newly launched conservative journal, The Standard. Kristol was chief of staff during the Bush administration to Education Secretary William Bennett and Vice President Dan Quayle.

He will speak on "Conservatism in America's Political Future" beginning at 8:30 p.m. in the Benedum Hall Auditorium.

In keeping with the American Experience tradition of annually featuring one conservative and one liberal lecturer, the series' other 1996 speaker will be economist John Kenneth Galbreath, Oct. 22, at a site still to be determined.

Tickets are free but by invitation only. The first opportunity to obtain tickets is given to the 750 Pittsburgh area alumni of the non-credit seminars offered as part of the American Experience program from 1970 to 1992. But Series' Director Robert G. Hazo says he also tries to provide a limited number of tickets to University personnel and others who might have a special interest in a lecturer's particular topic.

Kristol's lecture represents a rite of passage for the American Experience series, according to Hazo. "This will mark the first time that we've featured the son or daughter of one of our earlier speakers," Hazo points out.

Irving Kristol — who, besides having fathered William, is considered to be the father of American neo-conservatism — gave a 1975 lecture entitled, "Two Cheers for Capitalism." During his talk, he denounced American-style capitalism for producing a dull-witted society. Executives at Gulf Oil Corp., who underwrote the expenses for Kristol's appearance at the University, were not pleased, Hazo recalls.

— Bruce Steele