STANFORD—Stanford University’s recent Alumni Weekend featured several Hoover fellows in its Classes Without Quizzes & Tours series, in which the fellows discussed the upcoming election, technology, and the economy. Richard Sousa (pictured), director of the library and archives, gave his presentation, titled “Hoover Archives: Revival of the Liberal Economists,” to a standing-room-only crowd in the Hoover Institution’s Annenberg Room. In his talk, he showcased material from the F. A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Firing Line collections that are housed in Hoover’s Archives.
In “The 2010 Midterm Elections: Referendum or a New Politics?” David Brady, deputy director and the Davies Family Senior Fellow at Hoover, analyzed the 2010 congressional elections and offered comments on their consequences for the American political system.
Hoover senior fellow Larry Diamond, a Stanford alumnus (1973, MA 1978, and PhD 1980), explored how the explosion in broadband Internet access, new media such as Facebook and YouTube, and mobile phone subscriptions are affecting political freedom and accountability around the world. Diamond’s presentation, “Liberation Technology: Will the Digital Revolution Bring More Freedom and Democracy” also revealed how authoritarian states are working to censor and control these technologies.
Another Stanford alumnus (1990), Keith Hennessey, who is now a Hoover research fellow and lecturer at the Graduate School of Business and Law School, spoke about his experiences in the Bush White House during the recent financial crisis in remarks titled “Understanding the Recent Financial Crisis.”
The Classes Without Quizzes & Tours were part of the activities put on by the Stanford Alumni Association for the university’s 2010 Alumni Weekend, which took place October 21–24.
