The inaugural Rep. Peter DeFazio Annual Lecture was a major success, as the evening of April 10, 2025 saw more than 400 members of the University of Oregon and Eugene communities converge at the William W. Knight Law Center to hear award-winning journalist E.J. Dionne, Jr. speak.

Dionne’s talk, “What Does It Mean to Defend Democracy Now?” addressed issues of struggle and perseverance in a time when institutions of representative government are being challenged on multiple fronts.

Dionne said, “Now we know that liberal democracy is embattled—facing threats within nations including, especially, ours right now—that have long been proud of their democratic traditions. It also faces competition from systems that claim to be better able to deliver many of life’s good things.”

Though current events may seem particularly fraught, Dionne reminded the audience that “democracy is and always has been imperfect in practice.”

Video of E.J. Dionne, Jr.’s talk is available until June 10, 2025.

A frequent commentator on politics for the Washington Post, National Public Radio and MSNBC as well as a distinguished professor of government at Georgetown University, Dionne offered a pointed critique of Donald Trump’s rhetoric and policies while also acknowledging the complex factors—especially issues of economic hardship—that motivated many of his voters.

The key to effective resistance, Dionne posited, resides in the capacity to resolve a seeming paradox: “Fighting and empathizing at the same time.”

“The task for those of us who would defend democracy is not to exploit that anger, it is to heal the conditions that caused it. … We must recover our capacity for solidarity across our lines of division. To prosper, our democracy requires us to hear each other again.”

It’s precisely this sort of dialogue that the DeFazio Annual Lecture was established to help cultivate. In her introductory comments, Vice Provost and University Librarian Alicia Salaz noted, “The purpose is to both honor the congressman’s legacy of public service and also to foster interest and engagement with public policy among our academic and civic communities.”

Salaz also lauded the work of the UO librarians and archivists who are currently processing more than 700 boxes of material from DeFazio’s congressional archive. The official record of his 36 years serving as the U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 4^th Congressional District, these items were transferred to the UO Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives following DeFazio’s retirement in 2023.

“Our country will be forever grateful to Wayne Morse and Peter DeFazio,” Dionne said in reflecting on Oregon’s congressional history. Looking ahead to the future, he offered a message of hope for those who may feel demoralized by our current politics:

“Because there are no final victories, there are no final defeats. That means that in a free democratic society, our side may lose arguments and elections, but we have a chance to fight again, to learn from mistakes, to win over a majority of our fellow citizens. … In democracy as in sports, there is always a new season.”

On Defending Democracy: A Reading List from E.J. Dionne, Jr.

• Michael Walzer – The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On “Liberal” as an Adjective
• Benjamin Carter Hett – The Death of Democracy
• Jan-Werner Müller – Democracy Rules
• Todd Gitlin - The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
• Eric Foner – Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War

The Rep. Peter DeFazio Annual Lecture promotes public knowledge of politics, governance, civic engagement and social history by spotlighting esteemed speakers with expertise in the policy areas that Peter A. DeFazio advanced during his congressional career, including transportation, labor, infrastructure and natural resources.

The series is made possible through partnership with the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics and by generous support from the Coquille Indian Tribe.