Courtesy of LC History Department
American journalist Alexander Heffner visited Lewis & Clark on April 3 to hold a lecture entitled “Civil Discourse in an Uncivil Age.” Heffner’s public affairs interview program “The Open Mind” is the longest-running program in American television history. The show, created by Heffner’s grandfather, the broadcast journalism trailblazer Richard Heffner, has notably devoted airtime to activists and public figures. The two Heffners collaborated on their book, “A Documentary History of the United States,” which analyzes important documents and speeches throughout American political history. The 11th and most recent version was updated by Alexander in 2022.
The younger Heffner discussed politics and journalism with students before delivering his lecture, which was held in Miller 105 and cosponsored by the History, Political Science and Rhetoric and Media Studies departments.
After an introduction by Professor of History Elliott Young, Heffner stepped forward to address the small audience.
“My grandfather created the program that I host today. And, Lincoln was one of his idols. In the book over there, you’ll see plenty of Lincoln. And one of the unsung excerpts of a document that he alluded to quite often was a letter that President Lincoln wrote to an abolitionist leader in Massachusetts and he said, ‘When new views become true views, I’ll adopt them,’” Heffner said. “And for all of the extraordinary rhetorical influence from his inaugural Gettysburg Address, (and) Emancipation Proclamation, it’s those words that seem most salient to me and have for the last decade or so.”
Heffner aims to reduce the polarization felt throughout the country, which he sees hindering citizens’ abilities to hold dialogues with individuals of opposing views. Heffner highlighted his “Breaking Bread” series, which features interviews with politicians over their favorite meals.
“In the 22 episodes of the ‘Breaking Bread’ series that I did … I felt as though we accomplished what we intended to in opening doors of discourse from every part of the country, and to talk about strategies for building dialogue and deliberation and what can incentivize a more functional politics, a less mean-spirited politics,” he said.
He stated that the contemporary political climate appears to be very charged, but does not necessarily engender political action.
“‘Civilization’ has become kind of a charged term, too … But I think about it in terms of civil society. I think of that as containing civil debate, dialogue, deliberation and disobedience,” Heffner said. “And I don’t think we should be afraid to use that construct in a way that can be all-inclusive of people who want to protest, people who want to petition their government, people who want to write an op-ed, people who want to advocate outside of City Hall or the Capitol.”
Heffner further explained that a civically-engaged society is one in which people take it upon themselves to change the things they do not accept.
“Recognizing that civility is about civil society, then you have to recognize the uncivil conditions of economic life and the path that we’re on that doesn’t seem to recognize the wellbeing of most people,” Heffner said.
As the evening wound down, Heffner posed a question about the future of public discourse in the digital age.
“I’ll just leave you with the question of how much longer can people speak on social platforms and the way they do criminalizing, otherizing politicians, saying Adam Schiff should be arrested in jail, saying that of any judge who will stop the process of a Trump executive order, how much longer does that just exist in some parallel universe where people are uncivil or whatever? People can speak that way with impunity and not have to deal with their neighbors on that level. I don’t know. I don’t know how much longer it can exist, but I’m concerned,” Heffner said.
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