A few thoughts on the firing of the Librarian of Congress

Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, was fired by President Trump last Thursday night after serving nearly nine years of her ten year term.

I worked either directly or peripherally with Dr. Hayden on several public-facing and Congress-facing programs during the first half of her tenure in the job. I’ll leave the editorializing about the firing to others, but thought it might be useful to get out there a few personal impressions and some facts based on my experience at the Library that may or may not pertain to the justifications given for her dismissal.

First, Dr. Hayden conducted herself in a professional, courteous, and respectful way with Library employees and members and staff of Congress — both parties — in every interaction I witnessed. I was not a social friend of hers, but I did have an ongoing working relationship with her and her immediate staff. In all cases that relationship was constructive. Her leadership and example extended to the immediate staff who always showed me and others the respect and courtesy that she herself did.

Now for some facts: I am not going to provide a laundry list of every program the Library sponsored under her leadership during my time there. I will note some of the ones that I worked on or was peripherally involved in.

In those years the Library did extensive programming for Congress and the public. Some of the prominent intellectuals, writers, journalists, entertainers, and political figures Dr, Hayden brought in included David McCullough, Anne Applebaum, Danielle Allen, Drew Gilpin Faust, J.D. Vance, Jill Lepore, Tara Westover, Graham Allison, Garth Brooks, Amy Walter, Christine Lagarde, Martha Jones, Ivan Krastev, Theda Skocpol, Yuval Levin, Ross Douthat, E.J. Dionne, David Axelrod, Cokie Roberts, David Brooks, Bill Nye, Jonathan Haidt, Sara Fagen, and Karl Rove. It’s an amazing list — diverse, bipartisan, and immensely influential.

Some of the most conservative members of Congress to the most progressive ones were regular and enthusiastic (by my reckoning) attendees at congressional events, and the public flocked to discussions involving Bill Nye, Ross Douthat, Karl Rove, and others.

Final impression: my sense in witnessing Dr. Hayden’s congressional interactions, whether at hearings or in more informal settings, was that members of both parties respected her and in fact held her in the highest esteem.

As noted above, these are just a few reflections to throw out there as Dr. Hayden’s legacy is debated in the coming months and years. Thank you for reading and sharing if you see fit.