Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry and Minyon Moore have worked behind the scenes of some of the country’s most influential and historic presidential campaigns in history, all four beginning their careers with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and eventually working with the likes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama and, most recently, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Together they form a political supergroup they like to call “The Colored Girls,” and, like many other women of color in politics, they are unsung heroes of public service who have dedicated their lives to demanding diversity in American politics. Brazile, Caraway, Daughtry and Moore paved the way for many women and people of color currently in the political arena, and they will visit The Commonwealth Club on the heels of an exciting midterm election where the topic of diversity was at the forefront. Join us as the four women discuss For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, their new book, which chronicles their incredible stories, sheds light on their successes and offers insight on the many hurdles they faced in getting there.

Best-selling Bay Area author Adam Hochschild is back with a varied collection of essays on ideas and concerns that have spurred his career, with a particular focus on issues related to social justice and the people who have fought for it, the toll and aftereffects of colonialism, and the dangers of government surveillance. Hochschild was moved to collect and curate these essays (more than two dozen in all) by a sense that these issues matter more than ever in Trump’s America. The pieces in his new volume range from a day on the campaign trail with Nelson Mandela to walking through construction sites with an ecologically pioneering architect near the southern tip of India. Many of the pieces evince a personal angle: visits to Finnish prisons, exploration of former gulag areas in Siberia, his own dealings with the CIA when talking about new revelations of the agency’s control of ostensibly independent organizations in the ’50s and ’60s. As always, Hochschild’s journalistic skills, deep historical knowledge and activist leanings illuminate each essay. A longtime lecturer at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, Hochschild is the author of numerous books. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Nation and other publications.

Let's gather together and talk politics past, present and future. It's our year-end political roundtable and holiday social. We will discuss the biggest, most controversial and sometimes the surprising political issues with expert commentary by panelists who are smart, are civil and have a good sense of humor. We'll review some of the major events of 2018, plus we'll provide an update on the results and effects of the November elections, and we'll talk a bit about what to expect in 2019. Our panelists will provide informative and engaging commentary on political and other major news; and we'll have audience discussion of the week’s events and our live news quiz! Come early before the program for our holiday social hour (open to all attendees). Enjoy light nibbles, our homemade holiday cookies, and a hot cocoa bar. Revel in the year past and talk about the future year to come.

From fires and floods to hurricanes and hot temperatures, 2018 put climate on the front page in ways it hadn’t been before. Yet amidst the disruption, clean energy prices continued to fall, climate-conscious technologies continued to progress, and people living on the front lines of climate change found ways to adapt and thrive. Join us for a look back on some of our most memorable conversations of 2018.

During World War II, Japan's biological warfare research group, referred to as Unit 731, carried out some of the most inhumane research experiments ever recorded. They also supplied the biological weapons used in the most destructive attacks in human history, killing tens of thousands of Chinese civilians. After the war, the Soviet Union tried, convicted and imprisoned several of the researchers as war criminals. As documentary filmmaker Paul Johnson reminds us, the United States instead made a deal with the Unit 731 leaders under their jurisdiction, agreeing not to prosecute them in exchange for the data they had developed from their human experiments. Johnson will discuss what he considers to be one of the darkest chapters of Cold War realpolitik. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

Mark Shaw’s Denial of Justice adds the final chapter to The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, the bestselling murder mystery about “What's My Line” TV star and investigative reporter Dorothy Kilgallen. The Reporter Who Knew Too Much detailed the life and times of Kilgallen who, according to Shaw, came too close to the truth about the JFK assassination. In his new book, Shaw presents incriminating evidence about the main suspect in Kilgallen’s death from the suspect's family members, detailing the disturbing conduct by FBI agents on the day Kilgallen died. Shaw also includes government documents never published before that may change the way you perceive the JFK assassination. Readers can find out more at thedorothykilgallenstory.org. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

Following the 1957 season, two of baseball’s most famous teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, left New York City and headed West. Those events have entered baseball lore as acts of betrayal committed by their greedy owners: Walter O’Malley of the Dodgers and Horace Stoneham of the Giants. But that is only one side of the story. Mitchell argues that those moves to California forged Major League Baseball (MLB) as we know it today, second in influence only to Jackie Robinson’s debut in 1947. By moving two teams with national reputations and well-known players, MLB broadened its fan base. This was particularly important following a decade that was plagued with moribund franchises, low wages and the difficult dismantling of big league baseball's apartheid system. In the years immediately following the moves, the two most iconic players of the 1960s, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays, had their best years, bringing even greater fame to their ball clubs. The Giants also played an instrumental role in the first phase of baseball’s globalization by bringing in players from Latin America, while the Dodgers set attendance records and pioneered new ways to market the game. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanites

The Bay Area arts community is at an inflection point, facing accelerating changes on a host of fronts. Technology is driving new ways for artists to create and audiences to experience and participate in the arts. Demographic shifts are posing challenges for many long-standing arts institutions trying to engage new audiences. Securing space for performances and artists in the Bay Area’s white-hot real estate market tests the sector’s resourcefulness as never before. Amidst all this change, the funding landscape is shifting too, with longtime arts funders leaving the field and new business models showing great promise. What is the state of the arts in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2018? Join the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and arts experts from across the region and around the country for a discussion of where we go next. The panel discussion will be followed by the presentation of the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions 2018 awards in theater, musical theater and spoken word. NOTES This program is generously supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Soon after Leroy “Satchel” Paige arrived at spring training in 1937 to pitch for the Pittsburgh Crawfords, he and five of his teammates, including Josh Gibson and James “Cool Papa” Bell, were lured to the Dominican Republic with the promise of easy money to play in a baseball tournament in support of the country’s dictator, Rafael Trujillo. But the money wasn’t so easy. Paige and his friends soon found themselves under the thumb of Trujillo, known by Dominicans for murdering those who disappointed him. At first the Ciudad Trujillo all-star team floundered—Paige and his friends spent their nights carousing and their days dropping close games. Desperate to restore discipline, Trujillo tapped the leader of his death squads to become part of the team management. Afraid they might be shot, Paige and his teammates rallied to win. This barely registered with Trujillo, who just months later ordered the killings of 15,000 Haitians at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. When Paige and his teammates returned home, they were banished from the Negro leagues. Despite this, they continued to play baseball, barnstorming across America as the “Trujillo All-Stars” team. Author Averell “Ace” Smith tells an extraordinary story of race and politics and of some of the greatest baseball players ever as they played high-stakes baseball for one of the Caribbean’s cruelest dictators. MLF Organizer Name George Hammond Notes MLF: Humanities

Wildfires have always been part of life for the state of California. However, in the past year the state has seen 7 of its 20 most destructive wildfires ever, including the recent Camp Fire in Butte County, which directly impacted the Bay Area for days, and the Woolsey Fire in Malibu outside of Los Angeles. Combined, both fires cost hundreds of lives and caused billions of dollars in damage. Coming one year after last year's Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, it is clear that the state has reached a new abnormal and is at a critical juncture in how it plans and prepares for the inevitability of future fires—ones that could be more destructive and costly than what we have already faced. But what is causing these fires? What can be done to improve preparation and fighting them, and who is responsible for doing it? To address some of these critical and urgent questions, please join The Commonwealth Club for a special free town hall on California's fires and what can be done in the short and long term to prepare for them. The Club has invited some of the region's leading wildfire experts for an essential and honest discussion about the new abnormal and the pressing need to better prepare for the future. The town hall will also address how technology is shaping fire prevention and firefighting. Guests are invited to participate and share their experiences, thoughts and recommendations. Some of the state's top fire experts will also be seated in the audience.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Jackie Speier was twenty-eight when she joined congressman Leo Ryan’s delegation to rescue defectors from cult leader Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. Ryan was killed on the airstrip tarmac, and Speier was shot five times at point-blank range. While recovering from what would become one of the most harrowing tragedies in recent history, Speier had to choose: Would she become a victim or a fighter? The choice to survive against unfathomable odds empowered her with a resolve to become a vocal proponent for human rights. From the formative nightmare that radically molded her perspective and instincts to the devastating personal and professional challenges that would follow, her memoir, Undaunted, reveals the perseverance of a determined force in American politics. Deeply rooted in Speier’s experiences as a widow, a mother, a congresswoman and a fighter, hers is a story of true resilience, one that will inspire other women to draw strength from adversity in order to do what is right—no matter the challenges ahead.

Terrance Gelenter will discuss his life in Paris and the adventures to be had an hour from the City of Light and around the hexagon—in Le Périgord, Cote d'Azur, Alsace and Burgundy—always with a focus on wine, food and culture. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

Michael David Lukas, who attended The American University in Cairo and was a Fulbright scholar in Turkey, will discuss his critically acclaimed multigenerational novel, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo. Lukas weaves an intriguing tale, using real and fictional characters from old and modern Cairo; Victorian England; and Berkeley, California. The novel follows Joseph (the son of a Muslim father and Jewish mother) as he traces his forefather's role in guarding Cairo’s historic Ibn Ezra Synagogue and the ties that bind his family. Lukas' last book, The Oracle of Stamboul, has been translated into more than a dozen languages. MLF Organizer Name Celia Menczel Notes MLF: Middle East

Is philanthropy, by its very nature, a threat to democracy? Though we may laud wealthy individuals who give away their money for society’s benefit, Rob Reich shows how such generosity not only isn’t the unassailable good we think it is, but it might also undermine democratic values. Big philanthropy is often a conversion of private assets into public influence—a form of power that is largely unaccountable and tax-advantaged. And small philanthropy, or ordinary charitable giving, can be problematic as well. These outcomes are shaped by the policies that define and structure philanthropy. Reich asks: What attitude and what policies should democracies have concerning individuals who give money away for public purposes? Differentiating between individual philanthropy and private foundations, Reich suggests that the goal of mass giving should be the decentralization of power in the production of public goods, such as the arts, education and science. For foundations, the goal should be long-term horizon innovations that enhance democratic experimentalism. Reich concludes that philanthropy, when properly structured, can play a crucial role in supporting a strong liberal democracy. MLF Organizer Name George Hammond Notes MLF: Humanities

Stabilizing our climate is going to take some hard truths – and hard numbers. “If you look at 1.5 degrees, it's about 13 years,” says Stanford’s Arun Majumdar. “If you look at 2 degrees, it’s 20 years. And after that, it’s zero.” We can fight back with the power of zero: a zero-carbon grid, zero-emission vehicles, zero-net energy buildings and zero- waste manufacturing. Whether through massive technological breakthroughs or deployment of existing technologies, powering these opportunities will require funding and policy changes. Can a four-zero solution lead to a low carbon-future?