The Third Annual Gordon lecture will be given by Mr Marc Pachter, Director of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington on Tuesday 13th May at 5.30pm in Room 203, 10 University Gardens.

The topic will be "Posing for the Presidency: Style and Substance in the Portraits of America's Leaders"

The Gordon Lecture was established to mark the breation of an endowment by the Drumcliffe Foundation (Philadelphia) and the Gordon Foundation (New York), named in honour of the late Mr Albert F. Gordon.

Marc Pachter, Director, National Portrait Gallery
Marc Pachter, a celebrated scholar, historian and biographer, was appointed Counselor to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in October 1994. His responsibilities have included oversight of electronic media issues for the Institution, planning for the Smithsonian's 150th anniversary in 1996 and key international interactions, with particular emphasis on Japan.

From 1974 to 1990, Pachter served first as the Chief Historian and then Assistant Director (History and Public Programs) of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. He has lectured nationally and internationally for a number of years for the Smithsonian Institution, and throughout Europe for the United States Information Agency.

Pachter's television work has included a half hour program he presented on the Presidency produced by the Warner Amex Corporation, and an interview he conducted with the biographer Edmund Morris at Theodore Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill. Dealing with the question of critical standards for film and video biography, he served as a consultant for the Resource Center of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (1987-88). He is also the interviewer for filmed conversations with such distinguished Americans as George Abbott, Clare Boothe Luce, William L. Shirer, Mortimer Adler, Katherine Dunham, Walter Cronkite, Eleanor Dulles, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Charlton Heston, Agnes de Mille, Katharine Graham and Senators Charles Mathias and J. William Fulbright, and has served as a frequent commentator for CBS ("Nightwatch"), the Voice of America, and C-SPAN public affairs television network.

At the Smithsonian, Pachter has served as Chair of the Institution's Electronic Media Board, on the committee designated to oversee the Institution's joint venture in video history with the Sloan Foundation, and as consultant to Smithsonian World (PBS). Since 1996 he has directed an initiative launched by the Smithsonian to explore television and feature film opportunities with the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood.

Pachter was appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery in May, 2000 and began his tenure in July. He also served as acting director of the National Museum of American History from November 2001 until January 2002.

First published: 8 May 2003