Open
X

Democracy in the Dark: The Seduction of Government Secrecy

MORE VIDEOS FROM ROOSEVELT HOUSE

Improving Immigrant Access to Justice: Innovative Approaches

The Color of Citizenship: Tracing the Legacies of Japanese Internment from WWII to Stop & Frisk – Part Two

Georges Benjamin, Theodore M. Brown, Clay Bennett on “The Quest for Health Reform: A Satirical History”

With: Georges C. Benjamin Executive Director, American Public Health Association; Joan H. Tisch Distinguished Fellow in Public Health 2010-2011Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP(E), FNAPA, Hon FRSPH, is the executive director of the American Public Health Association, the nation's oldest and largest organization of public health professionals. He previously was the secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, from 1999 - 2002 following four years as its deputy secretary for public health services. For the last 20 years he has been actively practicing public health at the local, state, and national level with expertise in the areas of emergency preparedness, administration and infectious diseases. Dr. Benjamin serves as publisher of the field's premier journal, the American Journal of Public Health, The Nation's Health Newspaper and the APHA's timeless publication on infectious diseases, the Control of Communicable Diseases Manual.Theodore Brown Professor, Department of Health Sciences University of Rochester Medical CenterTheodore Brown is a historian of medicine, public health, and health policy. He has conducted research on the history of the biopsychosocial approach and on translational medicine; the history of twentieth and early twenty-first century U.S. health policy; the influence of organized philanthropy on medical research, health policy, and medical education, and the history of American and global public health. He is a Contributing Editor for History of the American Journal of Public Health.Clay Bennett Editorial Cartoonist, Chattanooga Times Free PressClay Bennett is an American editorial cartoonist. Currently drawing for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Bennett is the winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.

Democracy in the Dark: The Seduction of Government Secrecy

Book Discussions, Full Video, Videos
Published on Apr 16, 2015

Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr., chief counsel to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, visits Roosevelt House to mark the publication of his new book, Democracy in the Dark: The Seduction of Government Secrecy, exploring the question, how much secrecy does good governance require? In his book, Schwarz examines a range of events from the dropping of the first atomic bomb and the Cuban Missile Crisis to Iran Contra, 9/11 and recent cases from Chelsea Manning to Edward Snowden. Schwarz will be joined in conversation by Gabriel Schoenfeld, senior fellow, The Hudson Institute, and Sarah Bartlett, Dean, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism to discuss his argument that while some control of information is necessary, governments tend to fall prey to a culture of secrecy that is ultimately not just hazardous to democracy but antithetical to it.