Walter Isaacson
"Global Leadership: Perspectives on Our Greatest Challenges
from Einstein, Franklin and Kissinger"
Isaacson Speaks at Sold Out President's Breakfast
Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute and former chairman and CEO of CNN and editor of Time magazine, spoke to more than 750 people at the Westmont President’s Breakfast Feb. 6, drawing from his acclaimed biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin to detail the importance of intellect, creativity and moral will in today’s world.
“Smart people are a dime a dozen,” he said. “What it really takes is creativity and moral will to turn a smart person into somebody who can serve communities and serve this world.”
Isaacson said that both Franklin and Einstein were tolerant and humble, qualities that contributed to their genius and success.
“Franklin realized that being a person of great faith and of great tolerance can create a new type of nation that welcomes all to the creativity that comes from being open-minded and tolerant of everyone around you,” he said. “Einstein believed that intellectual tolerance was necessary for scientific creativity. He saw what happens when intolerance oppresses open minds.”
Throughout his life, Einstein professed faith in God, and Isaacson said we have to take him at his word. “But he didn’t believe in a personal, interventionist God,” Isaacson said. “Einstein considered the topic (of the existence of God) far too vast for our limited imagination. So he was humbled by it, rather that preaching about it. He believed in a God whose spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe.”
In the book “Wise Men,” which he co-authored, Isaacson tells the story of the men who developed American foreign policy after World War II. To combat the rising threat of Communism, they created a number of successful institutions such as NATO, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. In addition, the Marshal Plan helped Europe recover from the war.
“We face the same kind of global crisis today between those who are open-minded and tolerant while holding to a deep faith and those who are close-minded and fanatical,” Isaacson said. “We have not been as creative in our generation in developing economic programs like the Marshal Plan or finding effective ways to communicate our values like Voice of American and Radio Free Europe.
“We have an opportunity now to merge creativity and moral will to address the challenges we face, but we need to work together and be humble and look for common ground. Compromise doesn’t make great heroes, but it makes great democracy.”
At convocation at Westmont, Isaacson addressed students and answered questions from four student panelists: Sze-Fern Lim ’09, a double major in physics and art from San Diego,
Calif.; Graham Valenta ’09, a triple major in philosophy, psychology and cognitive neuroscience from Westminster, Colo.; Michael Gardner ’09, a double major in physics and computer science from Nairobi, Kenya; and Katie Zirschky ’09 a triple major in mathematics, chemistry and biology from Salem, Ore.
In response to the students, Isaacson said that the most difficult challenge in life is to know when to hold true to your principles and deep beliefs and when to be open and question them. “The goal of a liberal arts college is to help you learn this balance,” he said. “There is no simple formula, and people often get it wrong.” He also told students they had to learn what was in the box before they could start thinking outside the box.
Actor William Baldwin, who hopes to produce a film based on Isaacson’s book, “Benjamin Franklin,” attended the breakfast.
The Westmont Foundation sponsors the annual event, and Gerd Jordano a long-standing foundation board member has chaired the President’s Breakfast committee each year.
This is the fourth straight sell out for Westmont’s President’s breakfast, which has included previous speakers David McCullough (2006), Thomas Friedman (2007) and Fareed Zakaria (2008).