We Can All Do Better

The 2016 Kenner Lecture on Cultural Understanding and Tolerance was held on February 2, 2016 with speaker, former U.S. Senator, Bill Bradley who spoke on his recent book, <em>We Can All Do Better</em>. The Kenner Lecture on Cultural Understanding and Tolerance is an endowed lecture series of the College of Arts & Sciences at Lehigh University established in 1997 by Jeffrey L. Kenner '65. Bill Bradley has been a national leader for more than thirty years and is well known for his hard work, intelligence, candor and vision. From winning an Olympic gold medal in basketball in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, to representing New Jersey in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1997, to running for President in 2000, Bradley exemplifies America's best qualities. Bradley was a three-time All-American basketball player at Princeton University and graduated with honors in 1965 with a degree in American History. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he earned a graduate degree after studying politics, philosophy and economics. Bradley went on to be a star professional basketball player for the New York Knicks from 1967 to 1977. During that time the Knicks won two National Basketball Association championships (1970 and 1973). In recognition of his contribution to the sport, Bradley was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. In the Senate Bradley concentrated on tax reform, global trade, healthcare, water resources and United States intelligence agencies, even as he created the largest exchange program in history between the United States and the former Soviet Union. That program since 1993 has brought over 20,000 Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, et al high school kids to live with American families. Bradley is a managing director of Allen & Company LLC and a member of the Board of Directors of Starbucks; from 2001 until 2004, he served as chief outside adviser to McKinsey & Company's non-profit practice. From 1997 to 1999, he was a senior adviser and vice chairman of the International Council of J.P. Morgan & Company Incorporated. During that time he also served as an essayist for CBS Evening News, and as a visiting professor at Stanford University, Notre Dame University and the University of Maryland. Currently, he has a radio show, American Voices, on SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio in which he interviews people from all over the country about their lives. Bradley has authored seven books on American politics, culture and economy. In 1996, Bradley authored a best-selling memoir, <em>Time Present, Time Past</em>, about his life as a Senator and his travels throughout the country. In the fall of 1998, his book of basketball inspired essays, <em>Values of the Game</em>, was published and went on to be a New York Times best-seller and his book about being a professional basketball player on the road in <em>America, Life on the Run</em>, has become a sports classic since it was first published in 1976. Bradley is also the author of <em>The Journey From Here</em> and <em>The Fair Tax</em>. His book, <em>New American Story</em>, is a narrative of our times from the vantage point of current politics and the ideas needed to fulfill America's promise. His latest book, <em>We Can All Do Better</em> (May 2012) provides a solution to the partisan divide and a path out of the political stalemate in Washington.