Expert On The Presidency To Speak At CWU

October 14, 2004

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Street (509-963-2111/fax 509-963-3206/e-mail: streetl@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - As the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign enters the homestretch, Dr. David M. Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency (CSP), will speak at Central Washington University Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m., in McConnell Auditorium on the Ellensburg campus. Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

Abshire's free, public presentation, titled "The Grace and Power of Civility: Commitment and Tolerance in the American Experience," will be the first for the 2004-05 academic year in the CWU Presidential Speaker Series. The theme of this year's series is "America on the World Stage."

CWU President Jerilyn S. McIntyre established the Presidential Speaker Series to provide an additional source of intellectual stimulation on campus.

CSP, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, was initially designed to educate young leaders. In 1999, the Center moved to Washington, D.C., where Abshire became president. It increasingly brings together experts from government, academia, and the corporate world to review key issues facing the presidency and engage in programs that study, inform, and advise the federal government.

Abshire also serves as vice chairman of the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Born in 1926 in Chattanooga, Tenn., Abshire is a distinguished graduate of West Point and decorated Korean War veteran. He received his Ph.D. in history from Georgetown University, where he went on to serve an adjunct professor at its School of Foreign Service.

In 1980, President-elect Ronald Reagan appointed Abshire to head the National Security Group, including the State and Defense Departments, the U.S. Information Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Abshire served as U.S. ambassador to NATO from 1983-1987, where he initiated conventional defense improvement efforts so that NATO would not have to rely as heavily on nuclear weapons. For that, he was given the Department of Defense's highest civilian award - its Distinguished Public Service Medal.

He has also served on the advisory board of the Naval War College, chaired the Board for International Broadcasting, served with the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and, in 1987, was special counselor to President Reagan in coordinating the Iran-Contra investigation.

In addition to numerous journal, magazine and newspaper articles, Abshire is the author of five books: "The South Rejects a Prophet," 1967; "International Broadcasting: A New Dimension of Western Diplomacy," 1976; "Foreign Policy Makers: President vs. Congress" (1979); "Preventing World War III: A Realistic Grand Strategy," 1988; and, with co-author Brock Brower, "Putting America's House in Order: The Nation as a Family," 1996.

Abshire's daughter, Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold, is the assistant director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at CWU.

For more information about Abshire's presentation, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-2111, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.