On May 8, 2007, political scientist Harvey Mansfield delivered the 2007 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities here in Washington. The Jefferson Lecture is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and is considered the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Dr. Mansfield is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard. His speech was entitled “How to Understand Politics: What the Humanities Can Say to Science.”

A review of the speech from the Washington Post is included.