Reach Out America, a grassroots organization, will host the novelist Lucian K. Truscott IV as a speaker at its monthly meeting in Manhasset on Sept. 14.
The meeting will take place at 12:30 p.m. at the the Unitarian Universalist Congregation on Shelter Rock Road, where Truscott will give a talk about the political landscape.
“He’s a very interesting character, and he has a great background,” said Rita Hall, vice chairwoman of Reach Out America.
Truscott is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson with a long line of decorated military veterans, including his grandfather Lucian Truscott Jr., who was a general in World War II.
He attended West Point, and after graduating became a journalist for the Village Voice. Truscott has written five military-themed novels and also contributed to The New York Times and Rolling Stone.
“I know him from a long time ago,” Hall said. “I met him 40 years ago when he was a war correspondent for the Village Voice in Israel.”
In addition to his globe-trotting experience as a reporter, Truscott has served as an advocate for soldiers, the gay community and the black descendants of his presidential ancestor, a news release from Reach Out America said.
He is a member of the Monticello Association, which is made up of relatives of Jefferson. In 1998, he made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show, and invited the descendants of Sally Hemmings, a slave with whom Jefferson had several children, to the association’s family reunion.
Before then, relatives of Hemmings weren’t allowed to be members of the Monticello Association.
Truscott’s talk will be the first of the organization’s meeting season, which in the past has hosted officials like former Nassau County executive Tom Suozzi and former North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Hall said.
Reach Out America is nonpartisan organization that promotes initiatives concerning public health, the environment, peace and the electoral process.
“We cover a wide area of community concerns,” Hall said.
Admission to the Sept. 14 meeting is free and refreshments will be served.
For more information, visit reachout-america.com
