Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg took to the IU Auditorium stage Thursday night in a sold-out presentation as part of the Indiana Memorial Union Board’s lecture series Speaking of Excellence, which is in partnership with the IU LGBTQ+ Culture Center.
Buttigieg, who is gay, has an extensive political career, first as mayor of South Bend before serving in Afghanistan as part of the military, running for president in 2020 and serving in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet.
The lecture series strives to highlight the success of recognized members of the LGBTQ+ community in order to increase acceptance and understanding and address bias that often puts roadblocks in the way of LGBTQ+ people’s success, according to its website.
Reid Sprenkle, director of lectures at IU’s Union Board, said in an interview that the lectures aim to focus on the speaker’s success while battling adversity.
“We think that the way that we try to lead these conversations is a very good way to focus on how we can incorporate the community into everyday life and make sure that (members of the LGBTQ+ community) are highlighted for the ways that they’ve helped our society,” Sprenkle said.
On Thursday, Sprenkle led the conversation with Buttigieg. They began by discussing Buttigieg’s early political career. He touched on what he was able to accomplish in South Bend as mayor and his excitement at the continued success of the city since.
“We didn’t even say we were going to turn back the clock; I didn’t promise to make South Bend great again,” Buttigieg said. "It was about what was next, and it’s this incredibly resilient community that was ready to figure out its future, and I’m just proud that I got to play a role.”
He also spoke on his time serving in the military in Afghanistan. He joked that on his questionnaire for employment while a paramedic would be considered a key employee, being mayor would not — which, he said, is probably as it should be. However, he also spoke on how he learned about the importance of building trust through his military service.
“If somebody was going to go outside the wire, they did not care if I was a Republican or a Democrat. They did not care if I was going home to a girlfriend or a boyfriend,” Buttigieg said. “They did not care what country my father immigrated from. All they cared about, rightfully so, was that I know how to do my job.”
Buttigieg went on to speak about his time as secretary of transportation and said that going from a smaller stage as mayor to the national stage is not all that much different, aside from having more people watching. He described how proud he is of the projects he was able to get off the ground as secretary, noting that some of the ones he is the proudest of aren’t those with big budgets, but rather the ones that helped smaller communities.
He also touched on the current state of political polarization in the country.
“We have to find a way to live together,” Buttigieg said. “This is our country. It’s the only one we’ve got, and our country is founded on the idea that we can address our shared challenges through a conclusive political democratic process.”
He discussed the danger of getting news from algorithms, stating that they will only feed people what they love or hate and will not provide information about both sides of the coin.
When asked about how he thinks the nation can improve to help people feel more united, he spoke on the dangers of political violence. Buttigieg referenced the assassinations of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as the attempted killing of President Donald Trump and attack against U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul.
“Political violence is definitely escalating in this country, and that’s not just bad news for visible figures in politics, it’s bad news for all of us,” Buttigieg said. “It is an attack on all of us.”
He moved on to talking about a more lighthearted subject: his family. He touched on explaining his job to his kids in a way they could understand.
“I started thinking about it, it’s like, okay, tomorrow I’m going to help make sure the airplanes are safe,” Buttigieg said. “And then, this is around the time the Baltimore bridge collapsed, the bridge fell down, and I’m going to help put it back together.”
He closed out the lecture by answering questions submitted by audience members, ranging from his thoughts on the new Amtrak Acela trains, to his advice for someone pursuing politics, to his admiration for novelists.
Junior Marissa Finney was happy to hear Buttigieg speak.
“I’ve been following his career for a long time, especially since 2020 when he first ran for president,” Finney said. “I was a big supporter, I had pins of Pete Buttigieg, so I was a really big fan of him before when he was running, so it’s great to see him coming back to Indiana.”
Emily Smith, a graduate student, is originally from South Bend and did her first internship with Buttigieg while he was mayor in high school.
“It’s really inspiring and it’s always good to come back to his way of thinking and way of speaking, so we really enjoyed that aspect of it, and then he also has such a humor to everything as well, so we really enjoyed it,” Smith said.
