Forum to weigh foreign policies
The five former secretaries of state visiting the University Thursday will bring with them political experience dating back 40 years and spanning six presidential administrations.
The officials will address several core issues in the 2008 presidential campaign, with the goal of providing counsel for the next elected administration, said C. Donald Johnson, director of the Dean Rusk Center.
“This should be an exciting event where people will get a strong perspective on history at a very critical time in this presidential year,” Johnson said.
The former secretaries of state will be seated at a roundtable before a sold-out auditorium to discuss issues of foreign
RETURN UNUSED TICKETS
University officials are asking anyone who cannot attend the secretaries of state conference to return their tickets.
“We know people’s plans change and that some people who secured a ticket several weeks ago may no longer be able to attend,” Ambassador C. Donald Johnson, director of the Dean Rusk Center said in a news release issued by the University. “Thus, it is important for people to know that there is a waitlist and that others are interested in attending but can only do so if extra tickets are returned to the Classic Center.
“It would be great if the 2,100-seat theater is filled to capacity for this exciting and timely event, and obviously there is the demand.”
policy including stabilizing Iraq, the Middle East peace talks, al-Qaida and militant Islam, immigration reform, environmental initiatives, U.S. energy security, America’s image abroad, the balancing of economic interests and human rights, free trade agreements and future dealings with Iran, Pakistan, Canada, Russia and China.
The Classic Center is the site for the 16th annual forum, which is being held partly in honor of Dean Rusk, a late University School of Law professor and former secretary of state, Peter White, president of the Southern Center for International Studies, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
“We thought it important to hold [the forum] in conjunction with the Dean Rusk Center’s 30th anniversary,” White said.
“We have a long lineage at the [University's] School of law. Dean Rusk was the chairman at the time we held the first meeting. This is now the 16th meeting.”
These forums have been held in many different locations, including Atlanta and Richmond, White said.
Rusk was the second-longest serving secretary of state in history, having served eight years – from 1961 to 1969 – under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
He also participated in nine Report of the Secretaries of State sessions during his time at the University.
Donald Johnson said the compliance of the former secretaries of state to participate in the debate had little to do with luck.
“The reputations of the Southern Center, Dean Rusk and the Rusk Center helped in bringing the former secretaries to this event,” he said.
Tickets to the conference are sold out, but White said the Southern Center is videotaping the event for a later airing on TBS.
Johnson said the fact that it sold out so quickly is encouraging and a clear indication of the rising public interest in political affairs.
He said he hopes the issues raised during the conference might have an impact on the upcoming election.
“Presidential advisers draw from these kinds of debates,” he said.
Johnson said security for the event will be provided by Classic Center security guards, University Police and Athens-Clarke County Police.
