About the Institute Conferences
A long roster of distinguished participants include: former President Gerald Ford; former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Walter Mondale; former Senators Mark Hatfield, Slade Gorton, Edmund Muskie, and Gaylord Nelson; former White House Counsels Ted Sorensen, Leon Panetta, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; and former Ambassadors Joseph Sisco, Andrew Young, and Paul Warnke.
Table Conferences
The widely ranging conference subjects are found in the following table.
| Year | Frank Church Conference | Keynote Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | War or Peace? The American Role | Senator Frank Church |
| 1983 | International Issues in the Middle East | Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco |
| 1984 | Political Repression and Social Control | United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young |
| 1985 | Americanism: Activism or Apathy? | President Gerald Ford; Senator Edmund Muskie |
| 1986 | Responding to Revolution: At Home and Abroad | Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Warnke |
| 1987 | Who Decides? The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy | Assistant Secretary of State David Newsom |
| 1988 | Prospects for Peace | White House Advisor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. |
| 1990 | Our Public Lands | Senator Gaylord Nelson |
| 1991 | The New World: Changing U.S.-U.S.S.R. Relations | Advisor to Russian Duma Andrei Kortunov |
| 1992 | The World After the Soviet Union | Advisor to Soviet General Secretary Georgi Arbatov |
| 1994 | Honor in Public Service | United Kingdom M.P. Dudley Fishburn |
| 1995 | The Impact of Global Arms Sales | Congressman Robert Drinan |
| 1996 | Troubled Waters: Preserving Life’s Most Precious Resource | Founder of Sightline Institute Alan Thein Durning |
| 1997 | What is National Security? | Senator Mark Hatfield |
| 1998 | The Dragon Stirs: A New Dawn for China and the U.S. | Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China He Yafei |
| 1999 | Juggling Pragamatism and Principle: Intervention and the Balkans | Major General William Nash |
| 2000 | The Presidency: Leadership and the Paradox of Power | White House Counsel Theodore Sorensen |
| 2001 | Lights Out in the American West! Oil, Water, Gas & Conservation | White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta |
| 2002 | America’s Image Abroad: Leadership? Hubris? Indifference? | Reverend Forrest Church |
| 2003 | Secrecy in Government | Vice President Walter Mondale |
| 2004 | The American Presidency: Principled Leadership | Senator George McGovern |
| 2005 | Global Flash Points: Clash of Cultures | Holocaust Survivor Samuel Pisar |
| 2007 | Global Warming: Beyond the Inconvenient Truth | Vice President Al Gore |
| 2007 | Tipping Points: Presidents, the Constitution & National Security | Senator Gary Hart |
| 2008 | America’s Challenges: Perils and Possibilities | Senate Intelligence Committee Counsel F.A.O. Schwarz, Jr. |
| 2009 | The Global Environment: From Kyoto to Copenhagen | U.N. Informantion Center Director William Davis |
| 2010 | Eagle & Dragon: The U.S. & China in the 21st Century | Deputy Secretary of State David Shear |
| 2011 | The Arab Spring | Ambassador Christopher Hill |
| 2012 | Afghanistan After America | Ambassador Ryan Crocker |
| 2013 | Watching the Watchers: Security vs. Liberty | Journalist Jonathan Alter |
| 2014 | Wilderness: America’s Heritage | Presidential Historian Douglas Brinkley |
| 2016 | Clash of Cultures: The Middle East in Turmoil | Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta |
| 2017 | America’s Future: Refugees, Migration and National Security | Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard |
| 2018 | Global Struggle for Democracy | National Democratic Institute President Ken Wollack |
| 2019 | Democracy in an Age of Anxiety | Ambassador Michael McFaul |
| 2020 | How Democracies Survive and Thrive in the 21st Century | Professor Larry Diamond |
| 2021 | Democracy on the Brink: The View from the Mountain West | Pollster Celinda Lake |
| 2022 | Beyond Left and Right: Democracy in the 21st Century | Nina Jankowitcz |
| 2023 | Securing America’s Future: Rebuilding Trust | Gina Bennett (CIA), Author James Risen |
| 2024 | TBD | TBA |