GCPL Newsletter, December 2025  

The GCPL recently played a key role in several educational and civic leadership initiatives. Director James Thompson moderated a panel for the premiere of the upcoming Netflix series “Death by Lightning” which was held on Hiram’s campus. Furthermore, the GCPL also facilitated a campus-wide talk by Hiram alum and trustee Paul Whitacre for the first-year class related to renewable energy and career possibilities. Lastly, Professor Thompson visited Hudson High School to continue our ongoing partnership with its honors civic-education program. 

Moderating a Panel on “Death by Lightning” 
Director of the GCPL, James Thompson, served as the moderator for a panel associated with the premiere of the Netflix TV series, “Death by Lightning,” about the life and death of James Garfield on November 5, 2025. 

The panel included 1) Mike Makowsky, the creator/writer/executive producer of the TV show, 2) Candice Millard, author of Destiny of the Republic, which is the bio of Garfield upon which the show is based, 3) Tim Garfield, the great, great grandson of James Garfield, and 4) historian Todd Arrington. 

The premiere was very well received, and in general the series does an excellent job of highlighting some important moments in American history. As such, here in GCPL, we intend to show the first episode of the TV series during the first class of the fall semester’s GCPL course each year, in order to cause the Garfield scholars to better appreciate the legacy which they are inheriting. 

It was also a pleasure to spend an evening with the panel – including dinner before the event – and to hear people from various walks of life discuss how the story of Garfield has impacted their lives, their views of America, and their understanding of the meaning of civility in public discourse. 

More generally, this all fits into a current theme which we keep seeing, of various people turning their focus on Garfield, including Garfield’s most recent biographer, C.W. Goodyear, whose book President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, came out in 2023. 

Given all of this attention, we intend to create a page on the GCPL website which lists all these books, shows, etc., so that people can better appreciate the meaning of the man himself and of the GCPL. 

Paul Whitacre Talk 
On November 5, the GCPL helped facilitate a talk by Paul Whitacre – a Hiram alum and member of the Hiram Board of Trustees – which he delivered to the entire Hiram freshmen class. This talk focused on Paul’s history with and knowledge of the sector of the economy pertaining to investments in renewable energy. Via this talk, Paul was able to demonstrate to the students how a career dedicated to a public good – namely, environmental sustainability – can also be intellectually interesting and financially remunerative. 

The GCPL was happy to facilitate this talk – by coordinating with Paul and with the director of Hiram’s First Year program, Courtney Mauck – as a means of educating students both about the topic itself and about public leadership in general. 

Hudson High School Visit 
On November 4, director James Thompson gave a talk at Hudson high school. This talk was given to students in Hudson’s New Dimension’s course, which is an honors program focused on social studies and civic education, and with which the GCPL is an ongoing partner. Many of the students in that course attended the GCPL seminar on October 28, which was titled “Nuclear Options” and focused on issues of nuclear weapons/energy/war. This talk at their school was thus a way to continue the conversation on the seminar’s theme, as well as to link that theme to various topics in political philosophy. 

We look forward to a great upcoming Spring semester- Happy Holidays!  

James Thompson, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science
ThompsonJA@Hiram.edu 

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