This archival collection highlights numerous Westminster Town Hall Forum speaking events that have been broadcast on MPR’s airwaves for over four decades.
Westminster Town Hall Forum has hosted a free and open public forum since 1980, with talks by some of the most important and inspiring speakers in the world. The organization’s mission with event is to invite voices of conscience to address the issues of the day from an ethical perspective.
November 19, 1981 - A Midday broadcast of Dr. Rollo May, author, psychologist, and theologian speaking to the Westminster Town Hall Forum on love, creativity, freedom, anxiety, and death.
October 14, 1993 - Midday presents Westminster Town Hall Forum speech by Betty Rollin, author and NBC News correspondent. She wrote the best-selling book “Last Wish” about the suicide of her terminally ill mother.
September 26, 1994 - Midday presents author Amy Tan, author of the bestseller “The Joy Luck Club,” speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum on how "ethnic correctness", as she puts it, is taking its toll on literature.
October 13, 1994 - Midday presents Dr. Cornell West, a professor of religion and director of Afro-American Studies Department at Princeton, giving speech to the Westminster Town Hall Forum, entitled "The Politics of Race in America."
May 11, 1995 - Midday presents a Westminster Town Hall Forum speech, featuring Dr. Abraham Verghese, of Texas Tech University and author of "My Own Country: A Doctor's Story." Verghese speaks about a community's response to AIDS.
February 22, 1996 - Midday presents a live broadcast of the Westminster Town Hall Forum, featuring Washington Post political writer E. J. Dionne, the author of the acclaimed book, Why American s Hate Politics.
April 25, 1996 - Midday presents a live broadcast of the Westminster Town Hall Forum, featuring author and Washington Post editorialist Juan Williams. Williams talks about the absence of the issue of race in presidential politics.
May 30, 1996 - Midday presents a live broadcast of the Westminster Town Hall Forum, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough. He is the author of the prize-winning biography Truman and numerous other books and is well-known as the host of the PBS television series The American Experience. His Westminster Town Hall Forum lecture is titled, American Society: Civil and Uncivil. McCullough’s speech is the last in a Westminster series “Voices of Consensus.”
November 25, 1996 - Midday presents a Westminster Town Hall Forum with former St. Paul resident Gordon Parks. The writer, photographer, and artist address is titled A Life of Art. Parks recalls his family, time in St. Paul, and his art. Following the speech, Parks answers audience questions.
March 13, 1997 - A Midday broadcast of live Westminster Town Hall Forum featuring author Rabbi Michael Lerner. The title of his presentation is Transcending Racism and Hate. He co-authored the book, Blacks and Jews: A Dialogue Between Cornel West and Michael Lerner.