“Making the Presidency” Book Forum feat Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky

In 1797, John Adams assumed the presidency amid deep partisan divisions, domestic and foreign threats, and uncertainty about the future of the office. In Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic, Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky explores the unique challenges Adams faced and how he shaped the presidency. One of the most qualified and often overlooked presidents in U.S. history, he protected the nation from foreign attacks, forged election integrity, and established the peaceful transfer of power.

Join CEI for a lunch discussion with Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky on how John Adams’s leadership ensured the survival of the young nation, defined the presidency, and created lasting political norms, in conversation with Kent Lassman.

When: 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Thursday, April 9, 2026
Luncheon followed by book forum.

Where: Competitive Enterprise Institute
1310 L St NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20005

Questions: [email protected] or 202.331.2764

Register

Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a historian of the presidency, political culture, and the government. She is the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library. She is the author of the award-winning books, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution and Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic, and co-editor of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture.

Kent Lassman is president and CEO of the feisty and principled Competitive Enterprise Institute. Reforming broken regulatory institutions and removing the unnecessary burdens they produce has taken him across America, to more than a dozen countries, and deep into the dysfunction of the federal government. An optimist by nature, he is a Virginian by choice and is outdoors at every opportunity.