Salmon P. Chase Lecture Series

The Chase Lecture Series is devoted to careful consideration of the sorts of men and women whose lives offer models of civic friendship and leadership, and whose study can teach us something about how as citizens we can best improve the flourishing of The Ohio State University, of our nation, and of the world.

The lecture series moved to The Ohio State University in 2025, after an 11-year run at Georgetown University’s Center for the Constitution. Ohio State’s first lecture featured bestselling author Walter Stahr, whose 2022 biography Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln’s Vital Rival recounts Chase’s integral role fighting for the civil rights of all Americans as a pro-freedom attorney, as Governor and U.S. Senator of Ohio, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, and as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.