The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

that was created to serve as a living memorial to President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

and to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politics and public service.

History

Harvard Kennedy School Littauer Building

Following the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of President

on November 22, 1963, the Kennedy Library Corporation raised more than $20 million for both the construction of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and the creation and endowment of an institute at

dedicated to the study of politics and public affairs. More than 30 million people from around the world, including school children, contributed to the fund. In 1966, the Kennedy Library Corporation presented Harvard University with an endowment for the creation of the Institute of Politics. The IOP does not offer formal courses or degree-granting programs. IOP hosts the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, located at Harvard Kennedy School. The forum regularly hosts speeches, debates, and panel discussions. Since its founding in 1978, the Forum has hosted more than 1,000 events, seen by live audiences totaling more than 650,000 people and millions more via cable television, teleconferencing, and the Internet. Originally known as the KSG Forum, it was renamed in 2002 in tribute to the president's

son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current ...

, who had served on the Institute of Politics' board of directors until his death in 1999. The forum was renovated in 2003.

Organizations

Harvard Votes Challenge

In 2018, students at the IOP started the Harvard Votes Challenge (HVC) in collaboration with the

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, formerly known as the Ash Institute, was established in 2003 and is part of the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Center's miss ...

. The university-wide initiative "strives to build a civic culture at Harvard University by increasing voter registration and participation among students, staff, and faculty." During the 2018 midterm election, HVC launched the first-ever Harvard-Yale Votes Challenge. HVC integrated voter engagement and registration into First-Year Orientation in 2019. For the 2020 election, 390 volunteers from all 12 degree-granting Harvard schools worked to mobilize voters during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Organizers sent 94,297 text messages, distributed over 1700 stamps to students, and recruited 121 campus organizations to a pledge committing to 100% voter participation.

Harvard Public Opinion Project

Founded in 2000, the Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) aims to track young Americans' (18- to 29-year-olds) attitudes toward politics and public service. Undergraduate members, in conjunction with the IOP's director of polling,

John Della Volpe John Della Volpe is an American pollster, author, and advisor to Joe Biden's 2020 election campaign. He is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and the founder of Cambridge's SocialSphere, a public opinion ...

, conduct the largest national survey of the millennial generation. These form a tracking poll in the fall and a more comprehensive poll in the spring. After analyzing the data, the committee shares its findings in a nationally covered media release.

Policy Program

The Policy Program is an undergraduate-run think tank dedicated to developing policy recommendations. Participants collaborate on research projects that have contributed to the development of new legislation, the establishment of community programs, and the analysis of pressing issues affecting communities and states nationwide. Commissioners include individual senators, federal agencies such as the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

, and international organizations such The Peace Corps.

Harvard Political Review

The IOP is also home to and publishes the ''

Harvard Political Review The ''Harvard Political Review'' is a quarterly, nonpartisan American magazine and website on politics and public policy founded in 1969 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It covers domestic and international affairs and politica ...

'' (HPR), a quarterly, non-partisan journal of political affairs written, edited, and managed by

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

undergraduates.

Senior Advisory Committee

The following individuals make up the Senior Advisory Committee of the Institute of Politics: *

Michael Nutter Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he is also a former member of the Philadelphia City Council from the 4th di ...

, ''Chair'' *

David Axelrod David M. Axelrod (born February 22, 1955) is an American political consultant and analyst. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for being the chief strategist to Barack Obama during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. In ...

* Charles Frank Bolden Jr. *

LaTosha Brown LaTosha Brown is an American community organizer, political strategist, and consultant. She is the co-founder of the voting rights group Black Voters Matter, which has been noted for its work on the 2017 U.S. Senate special election in Alabama ...

* Alex Burns * Heather Campion * Torie Clarke * William D. Delahunt * Joseph Kennedy III *

Susan Molinari Susan Molinari (born March 27, 1958) is an American politician, company executive, journalist, and lobbyist from New York. A member of the Republican Party, she sat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1990 to 1997, representing Staten Isl ...

Abby Phillip Abigail Daniella Phillip (born November 25, 1988) is an American CNN news anchor who anchors '' CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip'' and CNN Saturday Morning Table for Five. She previously worked for ''Politico'' covering the Obama White House, '' ...

Olympia Snowe Olympia Jean Snowe (; born February 21, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senate, United States Senator, representing Maine for three terms from 1995 to 2013. A lifelong member of the Republican Party (Unit ...

Michelle Wu Michelle Wu ( zh, t=吳弭, first=t; pinyin: ''Wú Mǐ''; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the mayor of Boston, mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, since 2021. She is the first woman and the first person ...

References

External links

Harvard Institute of Politics website

Google Cultural Institute: Harvard Institute of Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvard Institute Of Politics 1966 establishments in Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1966 Harvard Kennedy School Harvard University research institutes Monuments and memorials to John F. Kennedy in the United States Public policy research Student political organizations in the United States