John Quincy Adams & Louisa Adams: A Partnership That Shaped a Nation

About the event:

Historian Lindsay Chervinsky and author Louisa Thomas explore the extraordinary political and personal partnership of John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams. This program highlights their role in shaping early American diplomacy, political identity, and the evolving expectations of public service. Together, the speakers illuminate a marriage that was both deeply human and historically significant.

Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a presidential historian and Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. Dr. Chervinsky is the author of the award-winning books Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic and The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, and co-editor of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture. Dr. Chervinsky regularly writes for public audiences in publications like the Washington Post, TIME, USA Today, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and provides commentary and historical context for outlets like CBS News, C-SPAN, Face the Nation, the New York Times, and NPR.

Louisa Thomas is a staff writer at the New Yorker, where she writes the weekly Sporting Scene column, and a lecturer in creative nonfiction writing at Harvard. She is also the author of several books, including Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, a biography of the wife of John Quincy Adams.

Dr. Colleen Shogan served as the 11th Archivist of the United States, becoming the first woman confirmed by the Senate to lead the National Archives and Records Administration. A political scientist, author, and civic leader, she has held senior roles at the White House Historical Association, the Library of Congress, and the U.S. Senate, and is widely recognized for her commitment to expanding public access to history and strengthening civic education. She currently works with More Perfect, Stand Together, and Georgetown University and is the recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert Humphrey Award for outstanding public service.

This program is made possible in part through partnership with The Leach Foundation and InPursuit an Initiative of More Perfect.