Nancy Pelosi Archives - Public Seminar

Activism

Should Universities Just Leave?

How can institutions fostering open inquiry survive authoritarian assaults?

October 23, 2025 • by Anastasija Mladenovska

Over the past year, I have tracked the journeys of five universities caught in the crosshairs of authoritarian pressure: Central European University (CEU) in Hungary; the Higher School of Economics (HSE) and the European University at St. Petersburg (EUSP) in Russia; Nazarbayev University (NU) in Kazakhstan; and the American University ...

Activism

Biden and Pelosi Speak at NAN’s MLK Day Breakfast

A photo essay

January 19, 2023 • by Jo Freeman

President Biden and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi were the featured speakers at the annual MLK day breakfast sponsored by the National Action Network....

Biden and Pelosi Speak at NAN’s MLK Day Breakfast

Politics

If Republicans Can’t Elect a Speaker, What Else Can’t They Do?

Kevin McCarthy’s epic fail reveals Nancy Pelosi’s legacy to the Democratic Party

January 10, 2023 • by Claire Potter

Nancy Pelosi’s greatest strength as a liberal was in her mastery of the possible while at the same time accommodating dissenters, idealists, and change-makers to this fact of life. This is what she taught her caucus....

If Republicans Can’t Elect a Speaker, What Else Can’t They Do?

Migration

Why the U.S. Needs Migrants

Migrant workers have an important role in the economy

November 9, 2022 • by Steve Max

Contrary to what the Republicans would have us believe, foreign-born workers, nearly half of whom are Spanish speaking, participate in the workforce at a higher rate than their native-born counterparts: 65 percent compared to 61 percent of the native-born. ...

Europe & Central Asia

Might the U.S. Military Support Nuclear Disarmament?

Its senior leadership is uniquely positioned in the present moment to pursue a revolutionary possibility

October 24, 2022 • by Robert Edwards

It is often difficult in the moment to recognize when one is at a crossroads. In the 1991 Gulf War, I was a lowly tactical intelligence officer in a parachute infantry regiment of the 82nd Airborne, rolling through the Iraqi desert beneath an air campaign that left smoldering charcoal where ...

Might the U.S. Military Support Nuclear Disarmament?

Europe & Central Asia

Part 3: Nuclear Dread Redux

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

September 19, 2022 • by James Carroll

Putin’s aggression was destroying cities, but it was also destroying what was left of the nascent impulse to move away from the absurdly named “Balance of Terror.”...

North America

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol begins its work, the Department of Justice invites Republican politicians who supported the insurrection to defend themselves

July 30, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

The ripples of the explosive Tuesday testimony that four police officers gave before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol continue to spread. Committee members are meeting this week to decide how they will proceed. Congress goes on recess during August, but ...

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

Columnists

We Don’t Need a Commission to Study January 6

We need a functioning government. National commissions rarely solve the problems they are formed to address–and often, they create new ones

June 2, 2021 • by Claire Potter

On Friday, May 9, the Senate failed to pass a bill establishing a bipartisan federal commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol, an insurrection intended to block Joe Biden from being inaugurated as president. The cloture vote was 54-35, six votes shy of the number needed to bring the ...

We Don’t Need a Commission to Study January 6

Politics

Punish the Voting Rights Villains

The second section of the 14th amendment was written to exact penalties for voting rights violations—why don’t we use it?

May 26, 2021 • by Marc Stein

_____ In April, pundits feasted on the U.S. Census Bureau’s announcement of state population figures for 2020 and the resulting reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives prior to the 2022 elections. The winners? Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon, and Montana. The losers? California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, ...

Columnists

Can Joe Biden Stay Above the Fray?

The President is quietly trying to rebuild the economy while Republicans tear each other apart

May 19, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ This week, President Joe Biden traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, to sell his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan. Visiting Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, he tested an electric version of the classic F-150 pickup and urged Americans to use the race to dominate the market in electric vehicles as a way ...

Columnists

Our Nation Is a Shooting Gallery

But anyone who pretends there’s nothing we can do is lying

March 25, 2021 • by Claire Potter

_____ Yesterday I began to see the tweets, again: people who had left their houses that day to do something unremarkable were dying. Friends at the University of Colorado-Boulder expressed fear, horror, and confusion as another mass shooting unfolded at a supermarket near their campus. Later, I learned that ten people, ...

Democracy

A Battle for the Soul of the Nation

A rising number of White House–related COVID cases exposes a presidency in collapse

October 8, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

All weeek, COVID-19 infections have continued to mount in the vicinity of the Oval Office. At least 34 people near Trump have tested positive for the virus in the past few days. The White House press corps is down to a skeleton crew as Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany and four ...

Nancy Pelosi

Should Universities Just Leave?

How can institutions fostering open inquiry survive authoritarian assaults?

Biden and Pelosi Speak at NAN’s MLK Day Breakfast

A photo essay

If Republicans Can’t Elect a Speaker, What Else Can’t They Do?

Kevin McCarthy’s epic fail reveals Nancy Pelosi’s legacy to the Democratic Party

Might the U.S. Military Support Nuclear Disarmament?

Its senior leadership is uniquely positioned in the present moment to pursue a revolutionary possibility

Part 3: Nuclear Dread Redux

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol begins its work, the Department of Justice invites Republican politicians who supported the insurrection to defend themselves

We Don’t Need a Commission to Study January 6

We need a functioning government. National commissions rarely solve the problems they are formed to address–and often, they create new ones

Punish the Voting Rights Villains

The second section of the 14th amendment was written to exact penalties for voting rights violations—why don’t we use it?

Can Joe Biden Stay Above the Fray?

The President is quietly trying to rebuild the economy while Republicans tear each other apart

Our Nation Is a Shooting Gallery

But anyone who pretends there’s nothing we can do is lying

A Battle for the Soul of the Nation

A rising number of White House–related COVID cases exposes a presidency in collapse

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