“Why George Washington Matters”

Please note that the series package includes all 7 lectures taking place every Monday from January 26 to March 9, 2026. Tickets for single lectures will be available beginning December 1, 2025

At a time of decreasing civic knowledge, assaults on democracy around the world, hyper-partisanship at home, and anxiety about the character of the American experiment, the stories and values that we can learn from the example of George Washington are as significant as ever. 

Come hear Dr. Douglas Bradburn, President & CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, an award-winning historian and leader in American public history, share the latest news from America’s most storied historic site and the ongoing importance of the legacy of George Washington.

Dr. Douglas Bradburn is President and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the former Founding Director of the George Washington Presidential Library. A well-known scholar of early American history, he has written The Citizenship Revolution: Politics and the Creation of the American Union, 1774-1804, and three anthologies, including Early Modern Virginia: Reconsidering the Old Dominion. He co-founded and is the editor of a book series, Early American Histories, and is the winner of numerous awards, grants, and fellowships, including the Gilder Lehrman Research Fellowship at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, five Telly awards, and a “Thea” award. He has been featured on CSPAN, Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, and the History Channel docudramaWASHINGTON. 

Before his tenure at Mount Vernon, he served as Chair of the History Department at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Dr. Bradburn holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in History and Economics from the University of Virginia.