Q: What has happened to the Landon Lecture series at K-State?
A: It’s still alive, as evidenced by the fact that they’ve just announced a new one. But it’s had a rough go in recent years.
K-State announced Monday that Gov. Laura Kelly will deliver a Landon Lecture later this month. That’s the first one since 2022; there were none in 2021 and one in February, 2020. That one, by former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, was basically arranged by Edward Seaton, my dad and the former publisher of The Mercury.
Why the dropoff?
Well, to start with, Covid killed off at least a year of public events.
There’s also been transition in leadership at the university in general, and in the lecture series in particular.
The people who really made the thing hum over the years were Charles Reagan, the chairman of the series, and my dad, who served as the head of the patrons organization. Jon Wefald was also heavily involved in pulling strings behind the scenes to bring speakers here; Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, the daughter of the lecture series’ namesake, helped a great deal, and having Bob Dole in the senate didn’t hurt, either. My dad had lots of connections as well, through his national and international work, and Reagan was extremely adept at putting things together. He wrote a book about it, if you want to know how it all worked.
Together they brought U.S. presidents, foreign presidents and high-ranking government and military officials, in addition to high-profile media figures. Every president between Nixon and George W. Bush came here. Mikhail Gorbachev spoke here. Henry Kissinger. Jesse Jackson. Billy Graham. Bob Woodward. Colin Powell. Teddy Kennedy. Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2.
I should mention that there was a dry year once before, in 1998. But some years along the way had as many as seven lectures.
Anyway, Wefald and Charles Reagan retired, and my dad died.
Will a new group emerge to bring the lecture series back to its previous level of prominence? That’s an open question, and obviously takes time and attention. The lecture series has a very proud history, and I’d encourage everybody to support it and give the new leaders time and a little grace.
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