History of the Rappaport Forum
The Harvard Law School Forum was born in 1946, when Jerome “Jerry” Rappaport approached HLS Dean James Landis with an idea: What if Harvard Law School sponsored a speaker series on issues that would shape the post-war world? Decades later, Rappaport felt that the media and political landscape had once again changed: “We’ve lost any sense of national dialogue, of discussion and debate as a means for deepening our understanding and pursuit of the truth.” That view motivated the launch of the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum. Funded by the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation, it is designed to promote and model civil discourse on complex and challenging issues facing our community, our nation, and our world.