Virtual Scholar Session: David PEduto

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Just a few weeks before the delivering the Gettysburg Address in 1863, Lincoln spent his final weeks living at the Cottage. Here, he thought deeply about a future America where we might live up to the ideals of equality presented in the Declaration of Independence. As he commemorated the Battle of Gettysburg in his address, he asked us to rededicate ourselves to those same ideals.

This year, we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Join David Peduto who will draw on President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as an oratorical balm we can apply to the open wound that is the memory of 9/11.

This talk will link President Lincoln’s healing words to our individual and collective memory of 9/11. It will call – just as Lincoln did – for us all to take “increased devotion” to never forget those lost that day and in the years since through our commitment to keeping their memory alive.

This interactive session will provide audience members with an opportunity to share their personal memories of 9/11 and what they learned about America and their role in it as a result.

David Peduto is a writer and seasoned professional in crisis management, cybersecurity, and financial services. An Arabic speaker, he’s a graduate of Middlebury College and The Fletcher School at Tufts University. He has worked internationally in Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines, and is an Advisory Board member of the 9/11 National Memorial Trail Alliance. He lives with his wife and children in Annapolis, Maryland – and shares a birthday with Abraham Lincoln.