Author Robert Caro, discussing ‘JFK 50 Years Later,’ is among the headliners in the new season of the Tate Lecture Series at SMU

By Micheal Granberry

Kudos to Southern Methodist University for its Willis M. Tate Lecture Series, which always bring to Dallas a lineup of speakers worth hearing. The folks at SMU just announced the new season, which begins Sept. 13 with David Gergen, a former presidential adviser, hosting a discussion between two former secretaries of defense, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.
 
The program goes into high gear on Oct. 29, when celebrated author Robert Caro comes to the Hilltop to address the topic: JFK 50 Years later. Caro’s lecture comes less than a month before the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s death.
 
These lectures follow: Ken Robinson, “internationally acclaimed expert on creativity, innovation and human resources in education and business,” on Nov. 19; Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairmen of the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction commission, on Dec. 3; world chess champion Garry Kasparov on March 4, 2014; Esquire magazine editor-at-large A.J. Jacobs on April 1, 2014; and four women, who once worked together at National Public Radio — Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer — on May 5 for a program called “The Founding Mothers of NPR.”