Date: 4/14/2016
Time: 7:00 PM TO 8:00 PM

2807 N. Glebe Road
Reinsch Library Auditorium
Arlington, VA 22207

---

Event Description: The Arlington Historical Society (AHS) will host Michael Signer, who will speak about “Becoming Madison: The Extra Ordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father” at its next public program on Thursday, April 14. Long before he became the fourth president of the United States and even before he became known as the Father of the Constitution, James Madison was a young delegate in the Virginia legislature who tangled with Governor Patrick Henry over religious liberty. Signer will discuss Madison’s early political thought, his successful rivalry with Patrick Henry over the shaping of the U.S. Constitution, and the battle between demagogues and statesmen that is at the heart of American democracy. Michael Signer is a lecturer at the University of Virginia, where he teaches in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics and the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He serves as a Managing Principal of Madison Law & Strategy Group, PLLC, where he practices corporate and regulatory law, and supports the mayor of Charlottesville, VA. He previously served as counsel to Governor Mark Warner of Virginia. He was a 2009 candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia. The author of the 2009 book Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies, Signer is a leading national voice in the declaration of Donald Trump as a demagogue and has been covered by national media including NPR’s Morning Edition. He has written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and USA Today and has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, and the BBC. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He lives with his wife and twin boys in Charlottesville and was raised in Arlington, Virginia, where he attended public schools.


Directions:
The hour-long program will begin at 7:00pm at Marymount University (2807 N. Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22207). The talk will be held in the Reinsch Library auditorium. The program is free and open to the public. For additional AHS information, please contact 703-942-9247.

---