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Friends of the National World War II Memorial presents a Monthly Conference Series to learn more about the spirit of unity and shared purpose that defined the character of our country during World War II. This series of monthly half-day virtual conferences features discussions with WWII veterans, war orphans, published authors, and other experts. New York Times best-selling author and Friends' Resident Historian Alex Kershaw moderates the discussions after each presentation.
Register today, for free, to join this unique digital experience.
September - April
Third Saturday Monthly
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET
Historian and author David Nasaw, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Professor of History Emeritus at the CUNY Graduate Center, examines the hidden aftermath of World War II in his presentation on The Wounded Generation. Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, and government archives, Nasaw explores how returning veterans, among them figures like John F. Kennedy, Robert Dole, and Kurt Vonnegut, struggled to rebuild their lives in a changed America. He reveals the long-neglected psychological, social, and racial wounds that reshaped postwar society: undiagnosed trauma and inadequate treatment for PTSD, women’s forced return to domestic roles, housing and employment crises, and renewed racial violence. In reframing the war’s legacy, Nasaw offers a powerful portrait of a nation and a generation marked as much by their battles at home as those fought overseas.
Military historian Mitch Yockelson examines the extraordinary leadership of Generals Matthew Ridgway and Maxwell Taylor in The Paratrooper Generals. Unlike most commanders who directed battles from behind the lines, Ridgway and Taylor led from the front, parachuting into Normandy alongside their troops during D-Day and enduring six brutal weeks of combat that cost their divisions more than 40 percent casualties. Drawing on extensive archival research, Yockelson illuminates how their courage, tactical innovation, and presence on the battlefield shaped the success of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and offers new insight into the personal risks and decisive leadership that helped turn the tide of World War II.
After graduating from Law School, Arthur was a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Finance Director of Senator Edward Kennedy's 1980 Presidential Campaign, Deputy Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and, for the last 30+ years of his career, owner of a financial and legal printing company in Washington, D.C. Arthur's presentation addresses the evolution of a child's loss into a memory that has been shared by tens of thousands of people on multiple continents.
The Friends of the National World War II Memorial’s education programs are generously supported by the Jack C. Taylor / Enterprise Rent-A-Car WWII Memorial Education Endowment.
