Follow the process live on cspan, online or listen live on the free cspan radio app. The museum in washington, d. C. Is closing at the end of the month. They held the discussion this week examining the state of free speech in the u. S. We will hear from Chris Wallace, Eleanor Holmes norton and floyd abram. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the theater. I am chair and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum. [applause] we welcome you all here tonight to celebrate the museum and the First Amendment and to look forward to a new chapter. I would like to recognize several of the partners whom we are all so pleased to have with us this morning. Leslie hill and dennis carol, brian and myra and robin stroud will. We are also honored to have several of our trustees and trustee a maritime in attendance. Jim abbott, shelby carthy, mike mike pohlman, phil curry, r david edelman, felix gutierrez, jack malcolm john lee, peter prichard, mike reagan, john, mark and barbara wall. [applause] after more than 11 years, the museum will close its doors here on pennsylvania avenue at the end of this month. While the museums closing saddens us, we are also heartened that nearly 10 million visitors walk through our doors to experience the story of news, the role of the prepress and major events in history and how the core freedoms of the First Amendment, religion, speech, press and petition affect their lives. We are especially grateful to all of you here in this room. Members, donors, founding partners, trustees and staff. For your belief in our mission and the importance of our work. [applause] over the past 11 years, your support has helped us provide hundreds of programs like this one tonight on topics ranging from politics to journalism to Current Events and to present 60 new exhibits covering subjects like president ial elections, political satire, hurricane katrina, the kennedy assassination and the stone wall in protest. Even the movie anchorman. The World Champion washington nationals. [applause] youve helped us champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment. The museums mission on the importance of a free and fair press. The museum and all it stands for would not have been possible without all of you. We thank you for being part of our story. We will begin tonights program with the celebration of the museum followed by our keynote speakers who will each talk about what it means to them and how they use it in their daily work. We are honored to have as our speakers tonight, journalist and matter of fact toast obrien. Expert and champion floyd abrams. D. C. Congresswoman and civil rights pioneer elinor Holmes Norton and veteran journalist Chris Wallace. Unfortunately we heard just this afternoon that congressman john lewis will not be able to join us due to a lastminute scheduling conflict and he sends his regrets. Later in the program we will hear from five individuals that have used the five freedoms of the First Amendment to affect change in their communities. Joining us for a short Panel Discussion will be junior of the Baptist Joint Committee. And who uses the power of assembly and her work at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network to raise awareness of Global Warming tiered and Donna Redman Jones, virginia brown. A principal and two students from a local high school to use the power of speech and petition to create a dialogue over controversial issue that wrangled their school earlier this year. Executive director of our First Amendment center moderating the conversation. We hope you will all join us after the program for meet i dread reception in the museum. Toasting the museum and our first. It is now my great pleasure to introduce someone who has been an integral part of the museum since its inception. 1995, displaying keen judgment and remarkable powers of persuasion when they convinced peter to leave his position as editor of usa today to become executive director of the museum the first museum in arlington. Peter subsequently served in roles as president of the museum, president of the Freedom Forum and chair and chief executive officer of the museum. When the decision was made to move the museum, peter agreed to don his hard hat once again. To oversee the construction of this magnificent building on pennsylvania avenue. Please join me in welcoming the chair of the board of trustee peter prichard. Thank you, jan. When we launched this museum in 2008, i really, i really did not expect we would be closing in a mere 11 years. Before i say much more, as long as we are thinking people, i think we should think some of the people that made this museum such a resounding and memorable success with visitors. It has been one of the most popular museums in washington. Recognized around the world for the excellence of its exhibits. Its programs and the welcoming attitude towards everyone that ever walks through the doors. Please, lets take one moment to thank the current leader, our most excellent chair. All of our employees both full and parttime. All of our generous friends and donors and volunteers who contributed so much to this success. Thank you. Naturally, when an Excellent Institution like this has to close, people ask why. There are many reasons. First, those of us who planted, including our founder, our founder, very capable ceo and many other managers and trustees, including me, made this museum too large. We thought big, we wanted to make an impact. This was a very ambitious visionary project. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be very expensive. Too expensive over time for its main funder to operate. Despite spending more than 500 million from the Freedom Forum and nearly 150 million that we raised from very generous donors both large and very small, the museum was never able to break even. Our smallest deficit was in the 7 million range and the largest driven by Rising Interest Rates was more than 30 million. Unfortunately, our Foundation Just could not sustain those losses over time. There were also some macro trends that created serious headwind. The development of this museum coincided with the digital hurricane that swept over oldschool traditional media. Newspapers large and small were decimated. Fairness and objectivity deteriorated or in some cases disappeared. Some politicians found that blaming journalists was an attractive political thing to mind. The natural base of support for the museum was left economically weekend and held in low regard by the public. We open the museum in the midst of a recession. The fallout from that greatly increased over time. Annual Interest Payments on our debt. Because we received no money from government entities, we wanted to remain independent. We had to charge an admission fee of more than 21. In line with museums around the country and around the world. Our great government funded institutions are free. We underestimated how hard it would be to breakeven when the competition is free. So much for the tedious financial details. The good news is, we had a great run. Nearly 12 years on pennsylvania avenue, we have welcomed more than 10 million visitors and most of them found the museum to be an educational and entertaining experience. We have received accolades from visitors around the world. The users of trip advisor have ranked us in the top five washington attractions for six years in a row. Here are three representative comments from recent visitors. It is really hard to put into words how impressive this museum is. History unfolds at each turn. This is a must see. We travel a lot and visit a lot of museums. The museum is by far the very best. This is a worldclass museum. I regard this museum as one of the most important sites to visit in washington. The museum is dedicated to free speech, the hallmark of a free society society. Sadly, the museum will be closing at the end of the year. I encourage you to visit. This museum is more relevant now than any time in our nations history. What did the museum accomplish . Through our many exhibits and forums we helped understand how crucial all of the freedoms of the First Amendment are to a functioning democracy. Most americans take these freedoms for granted tiered tonight i hope you will remind yourself how valuable they really are. There they are for you to see. Freedom of religion of speech of the press of assembly and of petition. We used to have a very active international program. We would do forums all over the world. Everywhere we went, the journalist journalist and visitors that came said you americans are so lucky to have your First Amendment. We should always remember that. Next, through our popular digital educational programs, we helped middle and High School Students learn how to critically assess news reports and how to tell fact from fiction in the wild west environment of the internet. These programs now reach more than 10 Million Students in middle and high schools in the United States and many countries around the world. They will continue as we move forward. We also reminded visitors about how much Good Journalism can accomplish. At least when reporters and editors are at their best. And scribed on the wall up on the sixth floor are these words which i hope you will also remember. That inscription says, and every visitor passes by it almost, the free press is the cornerstone of democracy. People have a need to know. Journalists have a right to tell. Finding the facts can be difficult. Reporting the story can be dangerous. Freedom includes the right to be outrageous. Responsibility includes the duty to be fair. News is history in the making. Journalists provide the first draft of history. Free press at its best reveals the truth. As that creed shows, journalism can be a noble calling. I think the museum was a noble effort. From a Commercial Point of view, yes, we faltered. We. We left millions of visitors delighted with our physical and substance. We helped millions of people understand what their bedrock freedoms are. What they mean and white is important to exercise them. We help them understand the crucial role journalism plays in a free society and why it deserves constitutional protection. Not only did the museum have a good run, but i would submit we did a lot of good and made a difference in the lives of many visitors. I would like to think that there are 400 young journalists out there now who first got interested in this craft because they came to the museum. Now they are doing their best to help the public understand the complex issues of the day. One of them is an labased reporter. Last week tweeted i visited the museum of the 17yearold unsure if i wanted to pursue a career in such a turbulent unpredictable industry. The museum captured everything journalism stands for and left me with no doubt i needed to be a reporter. It will be missed. I will close with a quote from one of my heroes. Winston spencer churchill. The only politician to ever win the nobel prize for literature. A record prize that may stand forever. Success is not final period it is the courage to continue that counts. As our founder once said, do not just learn something from every experience, learn something positive. We do not know yet if we will ever be able to build a third museum, but we can promise you this. The important work will continue. It may be in a different forum, on on different platforms, but it will continue. Thank you so much that all of so many of you did for this noble cause. Thank you. I am very proud to be here today i want to start by thanking all the people here who have made this great museum possible. Made it what it is. A champion of the protection of First Amendment rights in the country. And one of the Great Teachers about the nature of the First Amendment. I wanted to start out by just quoting to you a statute from a different country and a different time. Five15 year sentences could be imposed for the publication of exaggerated news. 1925 statute in italy adopted within a year after miscellany took power there. Just saying a few words tonight. How easy it is sometimes how almost thoughtlessly we take the First Amendment. Every country. The pentagon papers case by way of example is one that would not have come out that way and other democratic countries, truly democratic countries where they have an enormous amount of freedom. In the middle of a war. The government going to court to say the publication of certain top secret so designated material would interfere. Getting our soldiers back and the like. Lots of countries around the world. They were stunned at the results here is part of our history now. We do not often enough i think celebrate at this museum. The degree to which we are unique in the world and with respect to all freedoms. Let me mention one recent example. I have never really taken radical positions on anything and i have the press behind me. I did a speech a month ago it to law school. I was describing a case in which the organization which you may know of, which goes to churches that are mourning the death of american soldiers. Signs as close as the police will allow them to be to the churches. Denouncing the dead soldiers. Saying this is gods punishment because the United States is too accommodating. The First American protection that we would protect them when their conduct was so offensive. So outrageous. So contrary to norms of human behavior. It was not a controversial speech. Except the organization announced me and had a rally. Outside of the campus with my name on it. It is not that well known. I do not usually get involved in situations like that. First of all that we would protect such things. It is unique in the world that that speech would be protected in a lawsuit drop by the father of a deceased soldier who was being denounced viciously. The ugliest possible way. And that it should be followed i the exercise of First Amendment rights by that same organization after i had described the case and while, you know, what they had to say about their case of only passing interest. It just seems to be almost a marvelous example of the degree to which we take the extra step. More than the extra step. Protecting even vile speech. Let alone speech. Major issues that offend the government. That lead the public to be serious at the press. I leave you tonight saying what a joy it is to have been here on a number of occasions, to have had a chance to walk around this great place celebrating the protection of freedom of the press and all of the other not insignificant rights protected by the First Amendment. It was an accident that the First Amendment is first. And who will continue to defend and explain and celebrate the First Amendment. Thank you. [applause] thank you for those remarks. I liked the first miss of the third speaker was here for the opening of the museum in 2008 and we are honored she return for tonights program. Eleanor Holmes Norton is in her 15th term of the congressma congressman congresswoman for the district of columbia and is the chair of the house subcommittee on highways and transit and serves on the committee of oversight and reform in the committee on transportation and infrastructure. Before Congressional Service president jimmy carter appointed her to serve as the first woman to chair the u. S. Equal Employment Opportunity commission. She came to congress as a National Figure who had been a civil rights leader as an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who helped organize a march on washington. She also appeared here at the museum in 2015 to help us recognize the 50th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights act. Please welcome, Eleanor Holmes norton. [applause] thank you for your kind introduction. I remember that day. This was a useless corner and the district had used this corner for building that was of not much use to anyone and i was so proud that this corner was going to be used for one of the cornerstones of our constitution. I dont know about the rest of you but i do not come as with a funeral. Not when we consider what the subject matter is it today. Since the museum was opened millions of tourists, visitors from every part of the world stop at this site and sometimes on their way to a capital and you can see the capital from here and they come to a museum unlike any i have heard of in the world uniquely for the First Amendment. Unobstructed you can see the capital where it along and the siding could not have been more right. I regret any notion of losing the museum today but for two reasons when i think about it, first, the disappearance of so many newspapers and the difficulties pure news outlets have in our country today. We need a reminder of what the First Amendment has meant to our country but second is very sorrowful to me and its evidence that the First Amendment itself is losing currency, particularly among, of all people, young people who we must depend upon to Carry Forward the