Kermit Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's Great Great Grandson: TR's Vision and How It Shaped America

Kermit Roosevelt III, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Pennsylvania; Great Great Grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt; Author, Allegiance, the Award-winning Novel In the Shadow of the Law, and The Myth of Judicial Activism

Roy Eisenhardt, Lecturer, U.C. Berkeley School of Law; Member, The Commonwealth Club’s California Book Awards Jury—Moderator

Part of the Club’s Good Lit Series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Kermit Roosevelt will present a dynamic account of President Theodore Roosevelt’s distinctive constitutional vision and the way it has shaped modern America. We owe much of our modern Constitution to Theodore Roosevelt—and his cousin Franklin, who saw the final victory of Theodore’s vision. Kermit does say that both Roosevelts overlooked one significant point, the need for strong judicial protection of minorities. Drawing on government documents and personal revelations that informed the writing of Allegiance, a gripping historical novel centered around civil rights violations in World War II, Roosevelt brings alive a pivotal moment in our constitutional history that affects the Supreme Court and American citizens to this day. Please join Kermit Roosevelt as he takes us on a journey through a century of progress, stumbles, and endeavors in American politics while examining the profound value of staying true to our American ideals.