This book offers the observation of 26 public and private American leaders on the issue of public trust in government. It is based on presentations to the John C. Whitehead Forum, a public arena in Washington, D.C. for debate on significant issues of government and governance in the United States, sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government. Because low public trust in government is a matter of serious concern, the Forum committed its first four years, 1997-2001, to examination of that issue. Forum speakers represented in the book are current or former members of the cabinet and the Congress, heads of other large federal agencies, chiefs of multinational companies, a foundation president, senior journalists and academic figures, leaders of major nonprofit organizations, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and eminent veterans of public life.