Past Speakers

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All Past Speakers

Over 240 distinguished speakers have participated in The Forum since its inception in 1987. Our list of alumni includes past U.S. presidents, sitting heads of state, leaders from the sciences, arts, business, and more. This alphabetical list contains all individuals who have taken our stage as speaker, panelist, or moderator. Those alumni who have returned to The Forum multiple times have been marked accordingly.

  • Madeleine Albright
  • Alan Alda
  • Keith Alexander
  • Lamar Alexander
  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali
  • Ella Al-Shamahi
  • Terry Anderson
  • José Andrés
  • Julie Andrews
  • Neil Armstrong
  • Reza Aslan
  • James A. Baker III
  • Robert Ballard (1999, 2011)
  • James Balog
  • Ehud Barak
  • Dave Barry
  • Robert Bennett
  • William Bennett
  • Candice Bergen
  • Ben Bernanke
  • Michael Beschloss
  • Benazir Bhutto
  • David Blaine
  • Tony Blair
  • Ed Bradley
  • Terry Bradshaw
  • Ray Brady (1997, 2000)
  • Ian Bremmer
  • Todd Brewster
  • Tom Brokaw
  • David Brooks
  • Joyce Brothers
  • Gordon Brown
  • Art Buchwald (1988, 1991)
  • William Buckley
  • Dan Buettner
  • James Burke
  • Catherine Burns
  • Ken Burns
  • George H.W. Bush
  • George W. Bush
  • Laura Bush
  • Frank Cappiello
  • Frank Carlucci
  • Hodding Carter III
  • James Carville
  • Rosanne Cash
  • Dick Cavett
  • Eugene Cernan
  • Marvin Cetron
  • John Chancellor
  • George Church
  • Tom Clancy
  • Dick Clark
  • Marcia Clark
  • Bill Clinton
  • Glenn Close
  • Michael Connors
  • Alistair Cooke
  • Anderson Cooper
  • Patricia Cornwell
  • Bill Cosby
  • Bob Costas
  • Jean-Michel Cousteau
  • Walter Cronkite
  • William Crowe
  • Harry S. Dent, Jr.
  • Peter Diamandis
  • Jared Diamond
  • Lou Dobbs
  • Sam Donaldson
  • John Donvan (2012, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2022)
  • Michael Douglas
  • Frank Drake
  • Paul Duke (1987, 1990)
  • Mohamed ElBaradei
  • Rafe Esquith
  • Tina Fey
  • Howard Fineman
  • Carly Fiorina
  • Steve Forbes
  • Vicente Fox
  • Tommy Franks
  • Louis Freeh
  • Thomas L. Friedman
  • David Frost
  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2008, 2016)
  • Robert Gates
  • Frank Gehry
  • Marc Gellman
  • David Gergen
  • Rhiannon Giddens
  • Gabrielle Giffords
  • Julia Gillard
  • Newt Gingrich (2000, 2018)
  • Rudolph Giuliani
  • Malcolm Gladwell
  • John Glenn
  • Jane Goodall
  • Doris Kearns Goodwin (1997, 2002, 2013, 2017)
  • Mikhail Gorbachev
  • Temple Grandin
  • Bettina Gregory
  • Sanjay Gupta
  • Vijay Gupta
  • Alexander Haig
  • David Hartman
  • Thomas Hartman
  • Carla Hills
  • Hal Holbrook
  • Michael Holland
  • Linda Holmes (2017, 2019)
  • Philip K. Howard
  • Ron Howard
  • Gwen Ifill (2002, 2003)
  • Bob Iger
  • Steve Inskeep
  • Walter Isaacson
  • Dave Isay
  • Peter Jennings
  • Quincy Jones
  • Matthew Kahn
  • Marvin Kalb
  • Hiroki Kato
  • Mark Kelly
  • Scott Kelly
  • William Kelso
  • Jack Kemp
  • B.B. King
  • Larry King
  • Jeane Kirkpatrick
  • Henry Kissinger
  • Ted Koppel
  • Charles Krauthammer
  • John Krubski
  • Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
  • Charles Kuralt (1987, 1996)
  • Tony Kushner
  • Sherry Lansing
  • Jim Lehrer
  • Daniel Levitin
  • Mara Liasson
  • John Lithgow
  • Bjorn Lomborg
  • Howie Long
  • James Lovell
  • Peter Lynch
  • Kaveh Madani
  • John Major
  • Wynton Marsalis
  • Steve Martin
  • Theresa May
  • Frank McCourt
  • David McCullough (1997, 2002)
  • Charles McDowell
  • Robert McFarlane
  • George McGovern
  • Victor McKusick
  • H.R. McMaster
  • Jon Meacham (2009, 2017)
  • Marc Micozzi
  • Arthur S. Miller
  • George Mitchell
  • Pat Mitchell
  • Mary Tyler Moore
  • Greg Mortenson
  • Bill Moyers
  • Robert Mueller
  • Brian Mulroney
  • Maajid Nawaz
  • Marion Nestle
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Bob Newhart
  • Edwin Newman
  • Peggy Noonan
  • Queen Noor
  • Diana Nyad
  • Barack Obama
  • Michelle Obama
  • Nate Parker
  • Esther Perel
  • Shimon Peres
  • H. Ross Perot
  • T. Boone Pickens
  • Platon
  • David Plouffe
  • Michael Pollan
  • Colin Powell (1994, 2006)
  • Samantha Power
  • Vladimir Pozner
  • William Proxmire
  • Charles Rangel
  • Feisal Abdul Rauf
  • Robert Redford
  • Robert Reich
  • Daphne Maxwell Reid
  • Tim Reid (2012, 2013)
  • Carl Reiner
  • Maria Ressa
  • Condoleezza Rice
  • Cal Ripken, Jr.
  • Cokie Roberts
  • Ken Robinson
  • Mary Robinson
  • Smokey Robinson
  • Andy Rooney
  • Warren Rudman
  • Louis Rukeyser
  • William Rusher
  • Mark Russell
  • Tim Russert (1999, 2000, 2005)
  • Burt Rutan
  • Dick Rutan
  • Carl Sagan
  • Zainab Salbi
  • Pierre Salinger
  • Michael Sandel
  • Diane Sawyer
  • Joe Scarborough
  • Helmut Schmidt
  • H. Norman Schwarzkopf
  • Brent Scowcroft
  • Robert Shiller
  • Martin Short
  • Jeremy Siegel
  • Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
  • Rodney Smolla
  • Larry Speakes
  • Steven Spielberg
  • Brandon Stanton
  • Gloria Steinem
  • Bryan Stevenson
  • Kara Swisher
  • Sheila Tate
  • Margaret Thatcher
  • Fred Thompson
  • Krista Tippett
  • Alvin Toffler
  • Lily Tomlin
  • Calvin Trillin
  • Garry Trudeau
  • Desmond Tutu
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • Paul Volcker
  • Rick Wagoner
  • Chris Wallace
  • Mike Wallace
  • Barbara Walters
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Erik Weihenmayer
  • Cornel West
  • George Will
  • Thomas Chatterton Williams
  • Russell Wilson
  • Oprah Winfrey
  • Tom Wolfe
  • Bob Woodward
  • Kym Worthy
  • Robin Wright
  • Michele Wucker
  • Fareed Zakaria

EXPLORE THE CURRENT SEASON

Big Names, Big Ideas

The Forum has wowed audiences for nearly four decades, but the tradition of a large and vibrant lecture series has been a unique part of Richmond’s culture and identity since the 19th century — and has inspired other cities to follow suit.

110 South 15th Street
Suite B
Richmond, VA 23219

Office: (804) 330-3993
Office Hours: 9am – 5pm
Program Day: 10am – noon

Presenting powerful voices so Richmond can learn. Empowering local voices so Richmond can lead.

The Richmond Forum and its partners are proud to support the Richmond Forum Speech & Debate Initiative, a community initiative to bring speech & debate programs to all of our region’s public schools.

The Richmond Forum is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization.

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