INTERNATIONAL HOUSE AND...
Speakers & Visitors
Aaron Copland (1900–1990), 1966 Considered the dean of American composers, Copland was also well known as a writer and conductor. He spoke at I-House as a part of the George C. Marshall Visitor program.
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), 1975 American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist spoke at I-House on the importance of environmental sustainability.
Colin Powell (1937–2021), 2006 American diplomat and retired four-star general, Powell served as US Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, the first African American to hold the position.
Cory Booker (b. 1969), 2004 American politician, attorney, and a US Senator from New Jersey elected in 2013, Booker addressed residents at a Welcome Sunday Supper, when he was mayor of Newark, NJ.
Desmond Tutu (1931–2021), 1984 South African anti-apartheid and human rights activist, and the first Black Bishop of Johannesburg, he spoke at I-House on "Change in South Africa, Fact or Fiction?"
Janet Yellen (b. 1946), 2016 Before being named US Secretary of Treasury, as sitting Chair of the US Federal Reserve Board, Yellen appeared with former Fed Chairs Paul A. Volker, Ben Bernanke, and Alan Greenspan.
General Park Chung Hee (1917–1979), 1961 The longtime leader of South Korea, Park governed from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.
George Takei (b. 1937), 2006 Japanese American actor and LGBTQ activist known for his role on the original Star Trek, Takei spoke at I-House about his early experiences in an internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII.
Han Xu (1924–1994), 1984 A senior diplomat who served as the Chinese Ambassador to the United States from 1985 to 1989 and as Vice Foreign Minister of China from 1982 to 1985.
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992), 1980 American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, Asimov wrote or edited over 500 works of science fiction. The most famous are those in the Foundation and Robot series.
Joan Crawford (1908–1977), 1965 Academy Award-winning American actress and a director of the Pepsi-Cola Company spoke at an event introducing the Actors Studio and met with I-House residents.
Margaret Mead (1901–1978), 1960 The American cultural anthropologist visited I-House and met with residents for the President's Coffee Hour. She returned to speak in 1974.
Mary Robinson (b. 1944), 2004 An Irish politician, Robinson served as the seventh president of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Pictured with Don Cuneo and Paul Volker.
Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), 1960 Nuclear Physicist, credited with being the "father of the atomic bomb," visited I-House and spoke with residents for the President's Coffee Hour.
Paul Robeson (1898–1976), 1941 American singer, actor, and political activist, spoke at an I-House symposium titled “Africa and World Peace.”
Fareed Zakaria (b. 1964), 2004 Longtime journalist and trustee, here moderating an I-House discussion with AIG Chair Maurice R. Greenberg and Ambassador Richard J. Holbrooke.