A Conversation with E.J. Dionne: The GOP and Modern American Politics

Apr 13, 2021

E.J. Dionne, political scientist and syndicated columnist with The Washington Post, will discuss the place of ideas in modern American politics during a virtual lecture presented by Assumption University on Thursday, April 22, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. 

In 1981, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, wrote: “Of a sudden, the GOP has become a party of ideas.” Dionne, a nationally known and respected commentator on politics, will ponder the validity of Sen. Moynihan’s statement as well as discuss the status of ideas in American politics today during this event, a conversation with Assumption Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Greg Weiner, Ph.D. 

Dionne is the W. Averell Harriman Chair and Senior Fellow for Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, as well as a government professor at Georgetown University and a visiting professor at Harvard University. He is also a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and appears weekly on National Public Radio and regularly on MSNBC; he has also appeared on a number of PBS programs, including News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Dionne began his career as a reporter with The New York Times, where he spent 14 years reporting on politics from around the world, including stints in Albany, Washington, D.C., Paris, Rome, and Beirut.  He joined The Washington Post in 1990 as a reporter and has been writing his column since 1993.  

He is the author, editor, and co-editor of several books, including his most recent, Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country (St. Martin’s Press). Other works include One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported (co-authored with Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann, 2017), and Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism – From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond (2016).  His book, Why Americans Hate Politics (1991), was nominated for the National Book Award and won The Los Angeles Times book prize, and Newsday called it “a classic in American political history.”

A native of Fall River, Dionne is a graduate of Harvard University and received his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. 

The lecture is sponsored by the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Center for Scholarship and Statesmanship at Assumption University. The Center aims to cultivate thoughtful citizens who are inspired by the late senator’s example to appreciate the link between ideas and action. Established in 2018, the Center is funded by generous grants from the Thomas W. Smith Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The virtual lecture is free and open to the public.  For more information or to obtain a Zoom link, please contact Jillienne Church js.church@assumption.edu.