November 29, 2007
UW alum and new author Ted Van Dyk to speak Dec. 4
Ted Van Dyk, who spent decades working in national politics and policy, has written a memoir called Heroes, Hacks & Fools: Memoirs from the Political Inside and will discuss the book at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, at Town Hall Seattle.
Van Dyk worked as a senior assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and coordinated foreign assistance programs for the Carter administration. He also has worked closely with presidential candidates, including Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, George McGovern and Paul Tsongas.
Van Dyk also has been a contributor to several national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. From 2001 until this year, Van Dyk was an opinion columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A 1955 graduate of the UW School of Communications, he still returns occasionally for a guest lecture.
“The United States is the world’s richest and most powerful country,” writes Van Dyk in the preface to Heroes, Hacks & Fools. “Nonetheless, we are squandering our advantages — at federal, state and local levels — by spending money we do not have; making promises we cannot keep; overreaching internationally; allowing our education system to deteriorate; tolerating unacceptable inequities in our midst; and postponing policy decisions that will only become more difficult with time. We also have accepted ever-lower public and private ethical standards.”
Tickets for the talk are $5, at the door only, with Town Hall members receiving priority seating. Town Hall is at 1119 Eighth Ave. in Seattle. For more information, visit online at http://www.townhallseattle.org/.
