Howard Fineman: The Thirteen American Arguments

Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s chief political correspondent, joins the National Constitution Center to discuss his new work of American history, journalism, and analysis called The Thirteen American Arguments. Fineman joins Elisabeth Bumiller in the midst of the election season to discuss politics, candidates and how the thirteen arguments are playing out in this crucial time.

In The Thirteen American Arguments, Fineman writes that there are thirteen ongoing, essential American arguments, and that every debate we have had in the political arena from our founding to today has evolved from one of these arguments. Though the conventional wisdom is that Americans argue too much, Fineman believes that just the opposite is true. The Thirteen American Arguments run the gamut from our very identities to how we should work, pray, and love. For example, the book’s first argument is: “Who Is a Person?” Fineman writes that the Constitution says “everyone,” but the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement expanded the definition. What does the future hold for embryonic stem cells and “unlawful enemy combatants?” Whether it is the environment, international trade, interpreting law, Congress vs. the president, or reformers vs. elites, these are the issues that galvanized the Founding Fathers and, Fineman believes, should still inspire our leaders, thinkers, and citizens.

Howard Fineman is a keen observer of the American political landscape. He is the longtime chief political correspondent, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief for Newsweek. The Thirteen American Arguments is his first book. He is a regular contributor on NBC News and MSNBC. Since 1984, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate. Fineman holds a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia, and a J.D. from the University of Louisville. He is a Pittsburgh native.

Elisabeth Bumiller, a reporter for the New York Times, was a Times White House correspondent from September 10, 2001 to 2006. She is currently covering John McCain's presidential campaign. She is the author of May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India and The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the LIfe of a Japanese Woman and Her Family. Her most recent book, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, was largely written while she served as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and as a transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

A book sale and signing will follow the program courtesy of Joseph Fox Bookshop.

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