Alan Chartock is in the uniqe position to speak with policy makers and shapers on all sides of a wide range of social issues. The following conversatons are among the most informative and enlightening that WAMC/Northeast Public Radio has had the privelage of broadcasting.

Allison Stanger
Alan is joined by Allison Stanger, professor of political science at Middlebury College and author of One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy.

 

Jeffrey Deskovic and David Kaczynski
Jeffrey Deskovic was convicted in 1990 at age 16 of raping and murdering a high school classmate. The jury knew that DNA evidence from the crime scene did not match Deskovic, but it convicted him anyway based on testimony from a Peekskill, NY detective that Deskovic had confessed to the crime. In 2006, the DNA from the crime was matched to another inmate who is serving a life term for another murder. This inmate has confessed to the crime. In 2006 Deskovic's conviction was overturned and he was released. David Kaczynski is the Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, a coalition of individuals and organizations who seek abolition of capital punishment.

Dinesh D’Souza
Dinesh D’Souza’s controversial new book claims that traditional religious values can help America fight the war on terror. Mr. D’Souza served as a senior policy analyst at the Reagan White House in the late 80's and is currently the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

 

Daniel Ellsberg
Alan Chartock interviews Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1969 brought public the 7000 page top secret study of decision making in Vietnam. Here Mr.Ellsberg discusses his life, the threat of life in prison, and his anti-war stance.

 

 

Jack Goldsmith
Jack Goldsmith is the author of The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration. He served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel from October 2003 through July 2004, and Special Counsel to the General Counsel to the Department of Defense from September 2002 through June 2003

Peter Heller
Peter S. Heller is a recognized expert on fiscal policy and public finance. The former Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

 

E.D. Hirsch
Alan is joined by author and educational critic E.D. Hirsch, writer of the landmark Cultural Literacy, to discuss his new book The Making of Americans and what still needs to be improved in American public schools.

 

Kay Hymowitz
Kay Hymowitz is the author of the new book, Marriage and Caste in America. She is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York City and has written extensively on education and childhood in articles for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson
Alan Chartock is joined by Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President of R.P.I. to talk about energy security issues. Describing her as a national treasure, the National Science Board selected Dr. Jackson as its 2007 recipient of the prestigious Vannevar Bush Award for a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy. An additional, earlier conversation with Dr. Jackson can be heard here

Shayana Kadidal
Shane is a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and has been at CCR since 2001. He worked on the Center's major case on the illegal NSA domestic spying program, CCR v. Bush, as well as the Center's Patriot Act case, and testified before Congress on the material witness statute. He also worked on Turkmen v. Ashcroft, representing people swept up on immigration charges after 9/11 and unlawfully detained and abused; with the Vulcan Society of Black Firefighters challenging discriminatory hiring policies of the New York City Fire Department; and with the Sikh Coalition against religious discrimination by New York's Transit Authority, among other cases.

Michael Klare
Dr. Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies (a joint appointment at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), and Director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS), a position he has held since 1985. Before assuming his present post, he served as Director of the Program on Militarism and Disarmament at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. (1977-84).

Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman has at least three jobs: he is professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University; Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics; and, perhaps his best-known job, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times.

 

Eric Lane and Michael Oreskes
Eric Lane and Michael Oreskes are co-authors of The Genius of America: How the Constitution Saved America - And How It Can Do It Again.

 

Charles Lewis
Charles Lewis is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Public Integrity and author of The Buying of the President 2004: Who's Really Bankrolling Bush and his Democratic Challengers -- and What They Expect in Return. The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog organization in Washington, D.C. that does investigative reporting and research on public policy issues.

John R. MacArthur
"Rick" MacArthur is a journalist, magazine, and author of three books,his most recent, You Can't Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America.

 

Ruth B. Mandel
Dr. Ruth B. Mandel is Board of Governors Professor of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Since 1995, she has been Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, the unit of Rutgers University that explores state and national politics and government through research and education and links the study of politics with its day-to-day practice.

George McGurn
At a time when communism was collapsing George McGurn was picked by the U.S. State Department to go to the then U.S.S.R. to teach democratic finance and process. Join Alan Chartock as he talks to George McGurn about his experiences during his twelve years in Russia.

 

Michael Meeropol
Michael Meeropol is the retired Professor and Chair of the Dept of Economics at Western New England College and author of Surrender: How the Clinton Administration completed the Reagan Revolution.

 

Ralph Nader
Alan Chartock and presidential candidate Ralph Nader engage in a heated discussion about Nader's effect on the outcome of the 2004 election. Alan also brings up the 2000 election, which elicits a sharp response from Nader. This very special edition of WAMC's Capitol Connection program shows a side of Nader rarely seen, as he and Alan duke it out on a variety of issues. It is likely that this interview will be remembered by both Nader fans and foes alike for years to come.

Greg Palast
BBC nvestigative journalist Greg Palast is back to talk about the 2004 Presidential election and how he has documents to back up that this election was stolen. He also talks about the war in Iraq.

 

Deval Patrick
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke with Alan in November of 2007, reflecting on his first year in office. Governor Patrick previously spoke with Alan during his historic campaign for the Governonrship in 2006. That conversation is also available here.

 

Frances Fox Piven
Frances Fox Piven is a distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, as well as an author - writing extensively on American politics, with a special interest in social welfare policy, political movements, and electoral politics. She is the recipient of the American Sociology Association distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology - along with many other honors and awards.

Scott Ritter
Scott Ritter is well known to listeners of WAMC and around the world as one of the most vocal critics of U-S foreign policy in the Middle East. Ritter served from 1991 to 1998 as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. He was chief inspector in fourteen of the more than thirty inspection missions in which he participated. Ritter repeatedly stated that Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Because of the prevailing political climate in the United States at the time, Ritter was widely condemned for this position, which later proved to be largely accurate. An addtional conversation with Mr. Ritter is available by clicking here.

Alan Rosenthal
Alan Rosenthal has supervised comprehensive studies of legislative organization and procedures commissioned by the legislatures of Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, and Wisconsin and has worked with legislatures in 30 other states. His lesson, "Appreciating Democracy," is being used in high schools around the country.

Scenic Hudson
Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson, joined the organization in 1999 and has directed it through a period of dramatic institutional growth. Andy Bicking is Scenic Hudson director of public policy.

 

Fritz Schwartz
Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr. is an author and attorney with a distinguished legal career spanning four decades. He is the senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law and co-author of the book Unchecked and Unbalabalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror.

 

Nadav Tamir
Consul General of Israel to New England, Nadav Tamir was born and raised in Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel. He began his career of public service in 1980 in the IDF, where he eventually served as a company commander and retired with the rank of Major.

 

Louis Uchitelle
Louis Uchitelle worked as a reporter, a foreign correspondent, and the editor of the business news department at the Associated Press before joining The New York Times in 1980. He has been writing about business, labor, and economics for the Times since 1987. He was the lead reporter for the Times series "The Downsizing of America," which won a George Polk award in 1996.

Unity '08
Alan Chartock talks about Unity 08 with Doug Bailey, a political consultant for President Gerald Ford and co-founder of the movement, and noted actor Sam Waterston, one of the group’s supporters. According to the group's website, "Unity08 is a diverse group of Americans who believe that neither of today’s parties reflects the aspirations, concerns or will of the majority of Americans. Both parties have polarized and alienated voters. Both are unduly influenced by single-issue groups. Both are excessively dominated by money."