Spring Lecture: Steve Livengood, The Temple of Democracy: American History Gets Acted Out in the US Capitol

Steve Livengood, The Temple of Democracy: American History Gets Acted Out in the US Capitol
March 29
1:30–2:30 PM
In-Person at OLLI

Steve Livengood is the Public Historian and Chief Guide of the US Capitol Historical Society, a private not-for-profit organization chartered by the US Congress to develop enhanced experiences related to the history of the Capitol Building and the institutions that have been housed there. His specialty is interpreting the building with historical background on the meaning of activities and artworks as the icons of representative democracy, seeing familiar things from a deeper perspective.

Mr. Livengood began giving tours of the Capitol for his Member of Congress from Kansas in 1965. He has a BA in Political Science from American University. After experiencing the risks of good citizenship in Vietnam, he used his GI Bill benefits as a doctoral candidate in recent US political and social history at Emory University. He has worked in various capacities in DC political and policy circles, culminating with his work for the Capitol Historical Society since 1994. He has been given the Tourism Industry Award by the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington for his work in promoting the interpretation of the Capitol building by professional city guides. He is a board member of the Olmsted Network and helped promote Olmsted 200 for the bicentennial celebration of the genius of landscape architecture.

Steve loves the work he does so much that he continues as he can in retirement. He resides on the new waterfront in SW Washington where his balcony overlooks Rick Olmsted’s East Potomac Park. His two children and his new granddaughter live nearby in Northern Virginia.

Reservations are required to attend in-person lectures. In-person lectures will be held in the Spring Valley Building, 4801 Massachusetts Ave. NW, in Room A on the First Floor. Registration for the above lecture will open here at 10:00 AM on the Friday prior to the lecture. The direct registration link will also be included in the Friday newsletter the week prior. You must have an OLLI account to register. If you do not have one, you can create an account when going to register. Each registrant may reserve one seat. Your name must be on the list of registrants to enter the lecture and you must be in your seat five minutes before the lecture starts to guarantee your seat.