A lecture by Willard Sterne Randall

Saturday, June 14, 2025 / 1:00 pm / Mount Independence State Historic Site

The Mount Independence Coalition is pleased to present this year’s J. Robert Maguire Lecture, this year featuring renowned historical biographer Willard Sterne Randall. Mr. Randall will be talking about the subject of his new book, John Hancock.

We know his name. It is synonymous with flourishy signatures and an insurance company. Yet few of us know the crucial role John Hancock played in the winning of our independence from a king and establishing democracy in North America.

In his new book, John Hancock: First to Sign, First to Invest in America’s Independence, Willard Sterne Randall sets the record straight. In its review of the book, the New York Times writes:

The Declaration of Independence may have been composed by a different founder, but, as the historian Willard Sterne Randall writes in “John Hancock,” it was Hancock who led the Second Continental Congress to appoint the committee that drafted it. He also raised funds for the Continental Army, oversaw shipbuilding efforts for the Navy and kept Congress together even as it fled Philadelphia when the British came too close for comfort.

This lecture promises to be enlightening and fascinating as the nation looks back 250 years to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The J. Robert Maguire Lecture series was established by the Coalition to honor the late Bob Maguire of Shoreham, who was a staunch supporter of histories, and led the fight four decades ago to keep a nuclear power plant from putting Mount Independence in the shadows.

The book will be on sale at the event, and Mr. Randall will be signing copies. You can also get the book now at area bookstores, and the gift shop at the Mount.

Admission will be free to all.