Stars and influential figures, including former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, converged at the academy museum for A&E’s History Talks, drawing upon the past while offering inspiration for the future in a series of conversations.

Kate Winslet, Kevin Costner, Kerry Washington, Nicole Avant, John Legend, Chuck Todd and a handful of historians and experts were among the other speakers during the A&E Networks event.

The Bush’s conversation was off-the-record. Meanwhile, Obama and Gladwell spoke at length, touching upon a variety of topics including the importance of storytelling, the Reconstruction era and the Affordable Care Act. The pair stayed away from conversation about the current presidential race.

“My grandmother used to tell me that when this 18, 19-year-old Uncle Charlie comes home, he goes up into the attic and he basically doesn’t talk to anybody for six months,” Obama said.

The former president also got candid about the country’s initial thoughts on the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” as the pair called it during the conversation. “I was surprised it took so long to become popular,” Obama told Gladwell, before adding a touch of self-deprecating humor. “It didn’t help that we botched the website.”

Winslet spoke about her upcoming film Lee, about photojournalist Lee Miller that has been nearly a decade in the making.  The actress passionately spoke about the project and its subject throughout the conversation, along with biting commentary on the way people speak about actresses.

“People will say to me, ‘Oh my God, so you were so brave in this performance. You had no makeup, and you kind of look kind of crappy.’ And I think, do we say to the men, ‘You were so brave, you grew a beard?’” Winslet said, which was met with cheers from the audience.

When asked about how roles have transformed her, Winslet offered a hesitant response. “I sometimes struggle with talking about the actor’s process because at a certain point, we’re not finding a cure for cancer,” she said.

Costner spoke about his love of the American West, sharing an anecdote about his first experience with westerns. “I was seven years old, [at] a little boy’s birthday party,” the actor and director began, explaining that they drove from Santa Paula to L.A.’s Cinerama Dome for How the West Was Won.

“It was a four hour movie, so it’s no surprise mine are three,” Costner joked, referencing his latest project Horizon: An American Saga. The first of four films was released over the summer, with the second expected in August before it was pulled from release.

Other highlights of the event, which was created by A&E Networks president Paul Buccieri, included Kerry Washington and Nicole Avant speaking about their new Netflix film The Triple Six Eight. The period film, which Avant produced and Washington starred in and produced, focuses on a predominantly Black women’s army battalion in World War II. “The whole country was kind of in a fog of disconnect and miscommunication, and these women came in and saved the day, saved the fight,” Washington said of the film’s subjects.

L.A. School Roybal Film and Television Magnet

The program wrapped up with a conversation between Longoria and Legend, speaking about raising their voices and their relationship with activism. Legend also performed a short set for the cloud including a Bob Marley cover and his hit song “All of Me.”