Event start time is 2:30:00 pm EDT | 11:30:00 am PDT

The Institute for Policy Studies, alongside The Nation and We Build Progress, is hosting its third annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium. This symposium is a capstone event of IPS’s Henry A. Wallace Fellowship Program, supported by the Wallace Global Fund.

In 1939, as fascism was overtaking Europe and gaining ground at home, then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace charged that words alone would not secure democracy’s survival:

“Democracy must apply itself to meeting the material need of people for work, for income, for goods, for health, for security, and to meeting their spiritual need for dignity, for knowledge, for self-expression, for adventure and for reverence…The danger that it will be overthrown in favor of some other system is in direct proportion to its failure to meet these needs. We may talk all we like about the beauties of democracy, the ideals of democracy, the rightness of democracy. In the long run, democracy or any other system will be measured by its deeds, not its words.”

The rise of far-right authoritarianism in the U.S. and across the globe today – fueled by deteriorating economic conditions, militarized borders, and a lack of hope for a better future – demonstrates the urgent need to not only defend democracy as an ideal but to expand its meaning for our everyday lives, as Wallace presciently envisioned over eighty years ago. 

At this year’s Wallace Symposium, we will hear from movement leaders fighting to protect hard-earned rights and frontline communities, policy experts advancing a bold agenda to confront corporate and Pentagon power and create shared prosperity, and elected officials working to renew our democratic institutions from within. Together, we will explore the most urgent of challenges: how might we re-envision democracy at home and abroad to ensure its survival – and with it our thriving?

Join us on July 23 from 2:30 pm to 6:30 p.m. EDT at Eaton DC. This free event will be both in-person and live streamed. For in-person attendees, the Symposium will be followed by an evening reception from 6:30 to 8:30pm. RSVP using the button below!

Symposium Schedule

Welcome and Agenda Launch (2:30 - 2:45)
Tope Folarin, IPS
Sarah Anderson, IPS

Opening Remarks from the Wallace Family (2:45 - 3:00)
Scott Fitzmorris, Wallace Global Fund
Scott Wallace, Wallace Global Fund

How Henry A. Wallace Speaks to Our Moment (3:00 - 3:10)
John Nichols, The Nation

Organizing to Defeat Fascism and Deepen Democracy (3:10 - 4:10)
Aru Shiney-Ajay, Sunrise
Erica Smiley, Jobs With Justice
Kate Hess Pace, Hoosier Action
Khury Peterson-Smith, IPS
John Cavanagh, IPS (Moderator)

Short Break (4:10 - 4:20)

Working Together to Advance the For All Agenda (4:20 - 5:20)
Lindsay Owens, Groundwork Collaborative
Shane Larson, Communication Workers of America
Lindsay Koshgarian, National Priorities Project at IPS
Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation (Moderator)

Gilded Giving 2026: Philanthropy Under Oligarchy - Report Spotlight (5:20 - 5:30)
Chuck Collins, IPS
Bella DeVaan, IPS

Keynote Conversation (5:30 - 6:30)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD)
Sulma Arias, People’s Action
Tope Folarin, IPS (Moderator)

Reception (6:30 - 8:00)