New York Times - WKTV Journal

Renowned journalist Peter Baker will present his journalistic view on the evolving role of the vice presidency on April 23 (Supplied)

By WKTV Staff

deborah@wktv.org

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum will host Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times and a political analyst for MSNBC, on Tuesday, April 23.

Having reported on the last five presidencies for The Times and The Washington Post, Baker will
present “Covering the Vice Presidency: Lessons Learned on the Road,” his journalistic view on the
evolving role of the vice presidency.

This public lecture will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Ford Museum, and is free to attend. There will be a Zoom alternative for those unable to attend in-person.

Admission to this Ford Museum event is free (Courtesy, pxhere.com)

Knowledge & Insight

“We are honored to host the esteemed Peter Baker, renowned for his incisive journalism, at the museum,” said Brooke Clement, Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. “The audience will be treated to Baker’s extensive first-hand knowledge of the last five presidential administrations and his keen insight into American politics.”

At The Post, Baker served as Moscow Co-Bureau Chief and covered the opening months of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is author of seven books written with his wife Susan Glasser of The New Yorker. The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 and The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III are two of Baker’s best-selling works. Baker is also a frequent panelist on Washington Week on PBS.

For more information about the event, click here.

Learning & Reflection

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum allows visitors to experience highlights from the lives of President Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States (1974–1977), and his wife Betty Ford.

Museum exhibits teach democratic citizenship and allow for quiet reflection. In addition, changing temporary exhibits draw artifacts from partner museums nationwide.

Part of the presidential library system of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Ford Museum is located in downtown Grand Rapids. The Ford Library is located on the north campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation’s record keeper. It safeguards and manages the official records of the U.S. Government, ensuring the documentation of our nation’s history.

It would make a good Indiana Jones story: a 500-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world’s densest jungle.

It was the real life adventure of bestselling author Doug Preston who chronicles it all in his newest book “The Lost City of the Monkey God.” Preston will be in the Grand Rapids area Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. to talk about his book and adventure at Schuler Books & Music, 2660 28th St. SE.

Since the days of conquistador Hernan Cortes, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God- but then committed suicide without revealing its location.

Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly ad-vanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that ight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undis- covered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.

Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to con rm the discovery, Preston and the team bat tled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn’t until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease.

Preston is the author of 35 books, both fiction and nonfiction, sixteen of which have been “New York Times” bestsellers. Before becoming a writer, he worked as an editor at the American Museum of Natural History in New York’s and was managing editor of “CURATOR” magazine. He also writes about archaeology and paleontology for the “New Yorker,” “National Geographic,” and the Smithsonian and currently serves on the board of the Authors Guild.

For more information about Preston’s visit or other events at Schuler Books & Music, visit schulerbooks.com.