2009
Betsy K. McCreight Lecture in the Humanities

The 2009 McCreight Lecture in the Humanities was delivered at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, October 22 by Newsweek senior editor and author Jonathan Alter. His talk entitled, “The Defining Moment,” examined how a president’s first hundred days has evolved into an important measure of the effectiveness of the administration.

The McCreight Lecture was presented in the theater of the Culture Center at the state capitol complex in Charleston. It was free and open to the public. A book signing and reception took place in the Great Hall following the program.

Alter’s 2006 book, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, was a national best-seller that received fresh attention when the White House announced it had been read by President Barack Obama and much of his team. His other books include Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People, and Culture; Selecting a President; and Inside the System.

Alter received his degree in history from Harvard in 1979. He has written for such publications as The New Republic, Esquire, Slate, PARADE, and The New York Times. He is recognized as a leading media critic and is the creative force in Newsweek’s “Conventional Wisdom Watch” that measures and lampoons the news. Prior to joining Newsweek in 1983 he was an editor at The Washington Monthly for two years. His columns have earned more than a dozen national awards.

Alter also is a correspondent for NBC News and appears twice weekly on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. In 1995 he was named one of America’s ten most influential media critics by Columbia University. In 1997 he was the Ferris Visiting Professor of Press and Politics at Princeton University and in 2009 held the John Rhodes Chair at Arizona State University.

Known at the podium for his insight, wit and first-hand anecdotes, Alter offers an incisive, entertaining and compelling view of current affairs and how media interacts with politics. His presentations are fresh but informed by a deep knowledge of history.

The West Virginia Humanities Council board of directors established the annual McCreight Lecture in honor of founding board of directors member Betsy Keadle McCreight, who passed away in 1985.

This program is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.