Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a lecture on American democracy

On October 31, the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Dartmouth Dialogues co-hosted former Vice President Mike Pence for a 2024 Election Speaker Series event titled “Conservatism, the Presidency, and the Future of American Democracy.” About 330 people attended the event in the Hanover Inn Grand Ballroom, and another 220 watched the live stream on YouTube.

About 40 community members protested the event in front of the Hanover Inn. According to protester Roan Wade '25, the demonstration was organized by the New Deal Coalition and Upper Valley for Palestine to protest Pence's opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and workplace protections.

“There’s a lot of homophobia and transphobia on campus,” Wade said. “…(Dartmouth) showcases a man who literally dehumanizes his own student body.”

The event was moderated by government professors Russell Muirhead and Herschel Nachlis and former vice president for government and community relations Emma Wolfe. Muirhead and Nachlis, along with their government colleague William Wolforth, teach GOVT 30.17/PBPL 24, “The 2024 Election” which Pence and other speakers in the series took part on campus.

During the discussion, the co-moderators asked Pence questions about, among other things, the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, his political career and the future of the Republican Party.

In an interview after the event, Yvangi Jacques '28 said he attended the event because he thought it was “important” to learn how to “exercise his due role as a citizen” as a freshman in an election year. He added that the discussion contained “a lot of valuable information” and was “very exciting.”

“It's very interesting to hear insights from someone who used to be in the White House,” Jacques said.

Pence said his decision to certify the results of the 2020 election was motivated by the oath he swore at his inauguration in January 2017 to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

“In the lead-up to that fateful day, which I could never have imagined would have happened and turned out the way it did, I was simply determined to keep my oath,” Pence said.

When the Capitol was breached, Pence and his team first “walked across the room” from the Senate floor to his office, Pence said. He added that he was “not afraid” but was “angry” as he watched the situation unfold.

“When I saw the people breaking windows in the Capitol and saw the people climbing onto the seat of our government, the People's House, I thought, 'Not this, not here, not in America,'” Pence said.

Although Pence was asked by Secret Service agents to leave the Capitol several times as the mob approached, he was “determined to remain at his post” and “finish the work that is incumbent on us under the Constitution,” he said. The Secret Service ultimately agreed to move the vice president to the Capitol parking garage, which was “secured” and “still in the building,” Pence added.

Pence said he considered Jan. 6 a “tragic day” that became a “triumph of freedom” as Congress reconvened and “finished the people's work for the peaceful transfer of power.”

“I said, 'The world is now witnessing the resilience of our institutions,'” Pence said. “And never doubt that it will always be so in this country if … each of us are leaders who keep our oath, … do our jobs (and) fulfill our obligations under the Constitution of the United States .”

Pence declined to support Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump – under whom he served as vice president – in the upcoming election.

“I’m a conservative,” Pence said. “I could never vote for Kamala Harris or Tim Walz. …But I don't support the Republican ticket. I’m staying out of it because I’m worried about the direction of the Republican Party.”

According to Pence, “some voices” in the Republican Party are “beginning to retreat from supporting our allies in Eastern Europe, “marginalizing the right to life” and ignoring the national debt. He added that he and Trump had an “ongoing disagreement” over Pence's “constitutional duties.” After Pence refused to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly argued that Pence “could have” done so, according to PBS News.

Pence, however, rejected the notion that the traditional Republican Party “no longer exists.” Pence said he encountered people who agreed with his policy positions “everywhere” he visited during his 2024 presidential campaign.

“I think there were other factors, other crosscurrents (and) fears of the current administration that created momentum in our primary (in 2024), but I don't think it deviated from our principles,” Pence said .

Attendee Simon Obahor GR, an international student, said he attended the event to “indulge in American politics” in an election year. He added that as someone who is not a “right-wing, traditional person,” he wanted to gain a “broader context” of the event.

“I think it’s even more important to look the other way and seek dialogue,” Obahor said.

History professor Bethany Moreton took part in the protest in front of the Hanover Inn. She said that host Pence opened a debate about the “basic humanity” of members of the LGBTQ+ community “to simply ensure that even the worst ideas are represented on campus.”

Moreton – a historian of the Christian right – warned that the rise of Trump and Pence was part of an international wave of support for “right-wing authoritarianism” and Christian nationalism. By inviting the former vice president, the college demonstrated that Pence's views “deserve our consideration and engagement,” she said.

“We’re not excluding him,” she said. “We're simply saying, 'Don't portray him as an agent in an intellectual debate on a college campus.'”

It is the “prerogative” of Dartmouth students and community members to protest and say these ideas should not be welcomed, she added.

“In dialogue we say these are terrible ideas that should not come to power,” she said.

In an email statement to The Dartmouth, a Rockefeller Center representative defended the decision to invite Pence but wrote that they “respect the concerns raised by the student protesters.” Who the college invites is not a “validation” of their views, they added.

“During the Vice President’s visit, students had the opportunity to interact with him and, whether or not they agreed with his views, they brought smart, thoughtful and challenging questions to the conversation,” the representative wrote. “We believe there is academic value in providing opportunities for discussion across differences, just as we support students’ rights to free speech and protest.