On Wednesday, April 11, Author Joseph Esposito will join us to speak on his new book, Dinner in Camelot, which brings alive in vivid detail the largest and most important dinner of the Kennedy era. On April 29, 1962, forty-nine Nobel Prize winners were joined by other leading American scientists, writers and thinkers. The guest list included Linus Pauling, who picketed the White House earlier in the day; J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose presence represented redemption from his political exile in the 1950s; John Glenn, the hero of the hour who recently orbited the earth; and such great writers as Robert Frost, James Baldwin, William Styron, Pearl Buck, Katherine Anne Porter and John Dos Passos. Baldwin formed a relationship with Robert Kennedy, who also was there. The Baldwin/ Kennedy relationship had an important subsequent impact on civil rights. President Kennedy called this dinner "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Not only a fascinating story, this evening had historical repercussions. The dinner also has a message for us today in a severely polarized political climate. You can sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dinner-in-camelot-tickets-43546419513