Monday night, the Ashbrook Center held their annual Constitution Day lecture. This year, however, had a slightly different twist. Rather than a staight lecture, Lynne Cheney, author of  James Madison: A Life Reconsidered and wife to former Vice President Dick Cheney, held a conversation with the audience, focusing on their questions. 

Cheney focused on Madison’s life in an in-depth way, speaking about the depths to which she went to write the book. She said during her remarks she worked for five years on the book, searching through MAdison’s personal records, as well as information she could collect from his contemporaries.

Cheney also commented on the current state of education in the country. She has worked to begin efforts to reform American public education, serving as the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993. 

She became particularly interested in writing while her husband served as George W. Bush’s vice-president. Cheney saud she wanted to stay busy, while also staying out of trouble. 

She is the author of six best-selling history books for children. Her writing experience is extensive, including women’s suffrage in the West as well as a memoir of her life in Wyoming. She plans on continuing writing on the Founding Era.