In a series of candid conversations among old friends, former Chair of the Stratford Festival Board of Governors and Senior Medical Advisor of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health David Goldbloom sits down with some leading advocates of our time to discuss their work and their lives, and maybe to reminisce a little about their university years.

In Conversation with Joel Goldstein

The leading expert on the American vice-presidency, veteran law professor Joel K. Goldstein is widely acknowledged in the U.S. as the front-runner in this area. In a U.S. election year, his thoughtful perspectives have a heightened salience, as the vice-presidency has evolved from “a heartbeat away” from power to a more collaborative and activist role. In these uncertain times, and with older presidents, vice-presidents matter! In this candid conversation, he will weigh in on the current candidates and how the job has changed over time.

Joel K. Goldstein has spent much of his career studying and writing about the American vice presidency, what the first vice president, John Adams called “the most insignificant Office that ever the Invention of Man contrived or his Imagination conceived.” During the last forty-plus years, Mr. Goldstein has written two books and many articles on the subject, his most recent book being The White House Vice Presidency: The Path to Significance, Mondale to Biden (2016). His work traces the vice presidency’s development from the nothingness Adams described to the influential position of more recent vice presidents. He is widely quoted by media in the United States and internationally about the vice presidency, vice-presidential selection and related topics. His unique expertise led to a 2012 New York Times Sunday Styles profile, “Every Four Years, Man of the Hour.”

Born in University City, Missouri, Mr. Goldstein taught constitutional law and other subjects at Saint Louis University School of Law from 1994 to 2019, as the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law. He received his A.B. from Princeton University (1975) and his J.D. from Harvard Law School (1981) and, in between, his B.Phil. and D.Phil. in politics from Oxford University, which is when and where he met David Goldbloom.