The 2020 Leon Panetta Lecture Series will focus on this theme: Decision 2020 - A Republic If We Can Keep It. Some of the speakers joining former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta include John Kerry and Jim Mattis.
Note: This schedule was updated/changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final event of the 2020 series took place on September 28.
“The upcoming election may be the most important in our history and it may very well determine the future of our republic,” said Institute chairman Leon E. Panetta.
The Panetta Institute says the title of the theme comes from Benjamin Franklin's response to a citizen's question, “What have you given us?”, as he was leaving the Constitutional Convention’s final session. Franklin replied with clarity and forethought, “a republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
All of the forums will take place at the Monterey Conference Center and broadcast live on 90.3 KAZU.
Monday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m.
Decision 2020 – Impeachment and the Election with Bret Baier, host of Special Report with Bret Baier on FOX News and chief political anchor for FOX; David Gregory, CNN political analyst; and Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio and contributor, FOX News Channel.
Monday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m.
Decision 2020 – An Economy on Borrowed Money with Todd Buchholz, White House director of economic policy (1989-1992) and Rosa Gumataotao Rios, treasurer of the United States (20092016) and visiting scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Monday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m.
Decision 2020 – A Planet on Borrowed Time with Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first woman president (1990-1997) and one of the world’s most respected advocates for climate justice; David Wallace-Wells, leading American journalist on climate change and the author of The Uninhabitable Earth; and Jerry Brown, governor of California (1975-1983) and (2011-2019) (invited).
Monday, May 18 at 7:00 p.m.
Decision 2020 – The Future of American Leadership in a Dangerous World with James Mattis, United States Secretary of Defense (2017-2019) and retired United States Marine Corps general and John Kerry, United States Secretary of State (2013-2017) and former United States Senator from Massachusetts (1985-2013).