Previous Speakers

Founded in 1933, The Norfolk Forum is the oldest publicly subscribed speakers’ forum in the country. Speakers have included legendary personalities—seven former heads of state, Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winners and other thought-provoking public figures who have dramatically shaped American thought and events. Following is a sampling of speakers.

• Walter Cronkite • James Lovell • Kenneth Starr • Andrew Young • F. W. de Klerk • The Capital Gang • Michael R. Bloomberg • Philippe de Montebello • Elizabeth Dole • Dan Rather • Gary Trudeau • David Breshears • John Major • Robert Dole • Benjamin C. Bradlee • Dave Barry • President George Bush • Colin Powell • • Cokie Roberts • Mario Cuomo • James Carville & Mary Matalin • Brian Mulroney • Siskel & Ebert • Ken Burns • Peter Lynch • Peter Ueberroth • Robert McNeil • Jeane Kirkpatrick • Henry Kissinger • Margaret Thatcher • Robert Bork • Tom Brokaw • Dr. C. Everett Koop • Ann Landers • Ralph Nader • Clarence Page • Edward Koch • President Gerald Ford • Tip O’Neill • The Capitol Steps • H. Ross Perot • David Brinkley • George Plimpton • Bill Moyers • Warren E. Burger • George Will • Pearl Bailey • David McCullough • Sander Vanocur • Abigail VanBuren • Mark Russell • William F. Buckley • Jayne Meadows • Beverly Sills • • Charles McDowell • Larry King • William H. Webster • Mortimer Adler • Tom Wolfe • Helen Thomas • Charles Kuralt • Zbigniew Brzezinski • Sam J. Ervin • Robert Pierpoint • George Gallup • Daniel Patrick Moynihan • Jody Powell • Ray Brady • Coretta Scott King • Jack Anderson • Charles Osgood • Alex Haley • • Vincent Bughiosi • Art Buchwald • Howard K. Smith • Harry Reasoner • Dr. Joyce Brothers • Ray Bolger • Celeste HoIm • Elmo Zumwalt • Erma Bombeck • Mike Krzyzewski • Robert Reich • Al Gore • J.C. Watts • Rudy Giuliani • Karen Armstrong • Andrea Mitchell • Rob Fisher • General Colin Powell • Admiral Joseph W. Prueher • Ted C. Fishman •  Bill Moyers •  Governor Mark Warner