Reporter and author Carl Bernstein will deliver the Robison Lecture at Bradley University on April 14 at 7:30 p.m. The free lecture titled, "Seeking the Best Obtainable Version of the Truth: An Evening with Carl Bernstein," will take place in the Peplow Pavilion in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center.
Bernstein's most recently released book and national bestseller, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, will be available for purchase, as will All the President's Men, a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two of the journalists investigating the first Watergate break-in and ensuing scandal for the Washington Post. A public reception and book signing will take place immediately following the lecture on the first floor of the Alumni Center.
Few journalists in America’s history have had the impact on their era and their craft as Carl Bernstein. For forty years, from All the President’s Men to A Woman-In-Charge: The Life of Hillary Clinton, Bernstein’s books, reporting, and commentary have revealed the inner-workings of government, politics, and the hidden stories of Washington and its leaders.
In the early 1970s, Bernstein and Bob Woodward broke the Watergate story for The Washington Post, leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and setting the standard for modern investigative reporting, for which they and The Post were awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Since then, Bernstein has continued to build on the theme he and Woodward first explored in the Nixon years–the use and abuse of power: political, media, financial, cultural and spiritual power. Renowned as a prose stylist, he has also written a classic biography of Pope John Paul II, served as the founding editor of the first major political website, and been a rock critic.
The author of five best-selling books, Bernstein is currently at work on several multi-media projects: a dramatic TV series about the United States Congress; a feature film with director Steven Soderbergh; and a memoir about growing up at a Washington newspaper during the Kennedy era (The Evening Star, where he went to work at age 16). He also appears regularly on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair magazine, and has been an on-air political analyst for CNN.
The Robison Lecture is sponsored by the Department of Communication, in conjunction with the Intellectual and Cultural Activities Committee.
Since the Robison Lectureship Series began in 1988, Bradley's Department of Communication has hosted more than 30 journalists and journalism educators. The Robison Lecturer program was established in memory of Mary Leslie Robison, an educator and journalist for more than 40 years. She was an assistant professor of English at Bradley from 1957 to 1968. In 1953, the Illinois Association of Journalism Teachers honored her with a gold key for meritorious service to scholastic journalism.
