terrence mcnally – Terrence McNally

My 1989 speech to my 20th Harvard reunion – prescient & tragically hopeful

Written on July 27th, 2025

A couple of weeks ago I recorded myself reading a speech I originally gave June 9, 1989 – 36 years ago – at my 20th college reunion, Harvard class of 1969. Ours was the year of the University Hall takeover and the campus strike. In ’89, I was fully involved in the entertainment industry. In the speech, I asked how we were living up to our youthful ideals. I don’t know if my words affected anyone else, but I came back home and got much more involved in causes, setting me on the path on which I found this show 7 years later. Today I find my words prescient, hopeful and – given today’s reality – a bit tragic.

FF_TM 1989 Harvard Speech_Transcript

(1) Can government save capitalism from itself? CHRIS HUGHES, Facebook co-founder, (2) my prescient & tragic 1989 speech to my 20th Harvard reunion

Written on July 4th, 2025

As we reel and resist Trump’s careless breakdown of government, society and the economy, I speak with CHRIS HUGHES, a co-founder of Facebook, who left the company in 2007 and called for META’s breakup in 2019. In the first 45 minutes, we talk about the current state of tech and then dive into his new book, MARKETCRAFTERS: The 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy. How do we prepare to repair what Trump is destroying? For the final 15, I read a speech I gave in 1989 – 36 years ago – at my 20th college reunion, Harvard class of 1969. Ours was the year of the building takeover and the campus strike. In it I asked how we were living up to our youthful ideals. Today I find my words prescient, hopeful, and tragic.

T. McNally Harvard Speech Transcript

The time I was the guest. TERRENCE McNALLY(2014)-interviewed by SARA DAVIDSON

Written on January 24th, 2025

TERRENCE McNALLY is my guest this week. In February 2014, I took a hiatus from this show after 17 years. I thought it might be the end of the line, and before signing off, turned to journalist and best-selling author, SARA DAVIDSON, to interview me. I returned to these conversations In 2017 after Trump’s election. So here we are – 11 years after that hiatus and this conversation, 8 years after my return, and a few days after Trump’s second inauguration. How did things look to me then as I reflected both backward and forward?

McNally, Davidson 2025 – Transcript

60s.2.0 Meets OK Boomer – Necessary Allies

Written on September 24th, 2020

My 20-minute commentary calls for Millennials and Boomers with shared values to forge a movement large enough, creative enough, diverse enough, and powerful enough to successfully confront the critical problems we face. 60s.2.0 – 21st century tech in the service of the best of ‘60s values – meets OK Boomer – the impatience of the young with the failures of the old. “If the challenges we face are big enough to turn us against each other, then they must be big enough to bring us together.”

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Written on April 29th, 2016

HAPPENING NOW

For 25 years my conversations have sought A World That Just Might Work. I also produced & hosted the podcast series Disruptive for Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

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TERRENCE McNALLY, 1989 speech to my 20th Harvard Reunion (15 min) _______________________________________________________