American Politics

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the movement to make English the official language.

Four-star General, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell. He has a new autobiography My American Journey (Random House, written with Joseph E. Persico), and an anxious audience, waiting to see if he will declare his candidacy for President of the United States. Powell first came to the attention of the American public during the Gulf War, officiating at the televised gulf war briefings. Powell retired from the military in 1993, after 35 years in uniform.

Union leader Anthony Mazzocchi. He has been President of OCAW (Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union) Local 8-149; Vice-President of the Nassau-Suffolk CIO Council; and he was active in the legislative struggles of the 1960's and 1970's, including a key role in the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). Mazzocchi's present position is Presidential Assistant of OCAW.

Writer William J. Murray. He was raised in the home of atheist and Marxist leader Madalyn Murray O' Hair. In 1963, at age 14, he became the focus of media attention when his mother took her anti-prayer campaign to the U.S. Supreme Court where they later banned school prayer. In 1980, Murray turned away from atheism and became a Christian. His new book Let Us Pray: A Plea for Prayer in Our Schools (Morrow) looks into his past and present religious beliefs. Murray has written other books including, My Life Without God, and The Church is Not for Perfect People.

Gay rights activist Candace Gingrich. She is the sister of Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the House. Gingrich is the spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the nation's largest gay and lesbian lobbying organization. She is presently on a 48 city tour as a part of the Human Rights Campaign Fund's National Coming Out Project.

Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, Ralph Reed. The Christian Coalition is a national organization dedicated to mobilizing the religious right, for political and legislative objectives. The coalition was founded by evangelist Pat Robertson. It's "Contract with the American Family" includes calls for: school prayer; eliminating federal funding for abortions; limits on late-term abortions; restrictions on pornography on the Internet, and eliminating federal funding for the NEA and public broadcasting.

Chairman of the Board of the Carnegie Corporation and former Chairman of PBS Newton Minow. As President Kennedy's chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Minow astonished the public in 1961 when he referred to television broadcasting as a "vast wasteland". His new book, Abandoned in the Wasteland, (Hill and Wang), which he co-wrote with Craig L. May, examines the nation's television system (both past and present) and looks into the negative effects it poses on our children.

Journalist Ken Auletta wrote the book Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way (Random House), and is currently a writer for the New Yorker. He will talk about the new telecommunications bill which the Senate just approved.

Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, fell in love with Roald Sagdeev, who worked for the Soviet space program. She details the start to their politically fraught relationship in her new memoir, "Breaking Free."

Technology columnist for Newsweek Steven Levy comments on porn and the Internet.