Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) announces a live show of its award-winning radio program BackStory with the American History Guys on Tuesday, July 19 at 6:00 PM at the George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, D.C., titled “Presidents and the Press: A Pulitzer Centennial Event.” 

The program will feature BackStory’s historian-hosts Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, and Peter Onuf in discussion with special guests and a live audience to explore the complicated relationship between America’s presidents and the fourth estate. Featured guests include Purdue University historian Kathryn Brownell, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Carol D. Leonnig, and Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Matt Wuerker.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prizes, the program will also examine the related history and impact of the Prizes and their continued relevance today. The program is free and open to the public, but advance online registration is requested: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/presidents-and-the-press-a-pulitzer-centennial-event-tickets-8052857313.

Funded by a Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative grant to VFH, this program is generously co-sponsored by GW’s Department of American Studies, Department of History, and School of Media and Public Affairs. Promotional partners include DC Humanities, the Federation for State Humanities Councils, and the National Humanities Alliance. The Jack Morton Auditorium is located on the ground level at 805 21st St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20052.

About BackStory with the American History Guys: BackStory is a national and international, weekly one-hour radio program and podcast that brings historical perspective to daily events in an engaging and accessible way. The program is now broadcast in 203 communities and 32 states, and has recently exceeded 10 million downloads. History Guys Ayers, Balogh, and Onuf plumb connections between present and past, spanning three centuries and offering surprising, non-partisan conversation about ideas, events, and their continuing impact. Listeners help shape the program by sharing comments and questions as each show is in the works. To learn more, visit BackStoryRadio.org.

About the Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative: The Campfires Initiative aims to ignite broad engagement with the journalistic, literary, and artistic values the Prizes represent. The Pulitzer Prize Board partnered with the Federation of State Humanities Councils to inspire yearlong programming throughout the country by awarding $1.5 million in funding to forty-six state humanities councils. The initiative is supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Pulitzer Prize Board. To learn more about the Federation of State Humanities Councils, visit StateHumanities.org. To learn more about the Pulitzer Centennial, visit Pulitzer.org/centennial.

About VFH: The mission of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities is to connect people and ideas to explore the human experience and inspire cultural engagement. VFH reaches an estimated annual audience of 23 million through Community Programs, Digital Initiatives, Scholarship, and the Virginia Center for the Book. For more information, visit VirginiaHumanities.org.

Maggie Guggenheimer
Communications Officer
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities