August 31, 2004
Speaker Biographies
Dan Balz is a national political correspondent at the Washington Post. He has served at the Washington Post in various capacities, including a national editor and Southwest Texas Bureau Chief for 22 years, starting just out of high school. While in high school he worked at the National Journal, and briefly at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is originally from Illinois.
David R. Gergen is a Public Service Professor of Public Leadership and Director of the Center for Public Leadership. Over the past three decades, he has served as a White House advisor to four presidents: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. In the mid-1980s, he began a career in journalism, becoming editor of U.S. News & World Report. He joined the Kennedy School faculty in January 1999, while remaining editor at large for U.S. News and a frequent television analyst. In the fall of 2000 he published a best-seller, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton. He also chairs the National Selection Committee for the Innovations in American Government program. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School and holds 12 honorary degrees. He served three and one-half years in the Navy and is a member of the Washington, DC, Bar. (from KSG Website)
John Cornyn of San Antonio, was sworn in to the United States Senate on December 2, 2002. While serving Texas as Attorney General from 1999-2002, Cornyn won wide praise for his dedication to professionalism over politics. As the state's chief law enforcement officer, he was responsible for directing many programs vital to the interests of Texas families, such as child support and consumer protection as well as providing legal representation to more than 300 state agencies. Prior to serving as Attorney General, Senator Cornyn served as a District Court Judge in San Antonio; he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990 and reelected in 1996. He resigned from the Texas Supreme Court to run for Attorney General for Texas, where he served under Governor George W. Bush. A graduate of Trinity University and St. Mary's School of Law, both in San Antonio, Senator Cornyn also earned a Masters of Law from the University of Virginia Law School in 1995. (from http://cornyn.senate.gov)
Maura Reynolds is a national political correspondent at the Los Angeles Times. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for her reporting, at considerable personal risk, of the volatile aftermath of the war in Chechnya and the uncertain future engagement of Russia with that republic. She currently covers the White House.
Fred Thompson, former United States Senator, prosecutor and accomplished film and television actor, recently joined the cast of the Emmy Award-winning drama series “Law & Order” as the newly-elected District Attorney, Arthur Branch. Fred Thompson’s service in the United States Senate was a continuation of a distinguished career across both the public and private arenas. In his first campaign for public office, Thompson was elected by the people of Tennessee in 1994 to the remaining two years of an unexpired Senate term. When he was returned for a full term in 1996, he received more votes than any previous candidate for any office in Tennessee history. In 1997, Thompson was elected Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, making him among the most junior senators in history to serve as Chairman of a major Senate Committee. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Thompson maintained law offices in Nashville and Washington and served as Special Counsel to both the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Having grown up in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, Thompson attended Memphis State University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science. He went on to receive a law degree from Vanderbilt University. Two years later, Thompson was named an Assistant United States Attorney and, at the age of 30, was appointed Minority Counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, where he served in 1973 and 1974. In 1994, Thompson was elected to the United States Senate, reelected in 1996 and chose not to run for reelection in 2002. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Thompson and his wife Jeri live in Nashville, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. He has two sons and five grandchildren. (From Law and Order Website)
Jon Kyl is a Republican Senator, representing Arizona. Before entering into politics, he was a lawyer with Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix, Arizona. His father was John Kyl, a US Representative for Iowa. He served in the House of Representatives from 1987-1995. He was elected to the Senate in 1994 and re-elected to the Senate in 2000. He promotes lower taxes, national defense, tough crime and drug laws, victims’ rights, health care, and education. He serves on the Senate Judiciary committee, Finance committee, Energy and Natural Resources, and Intelligence Committee. He is also chairman of the Steering Committee, as well as chairman of the Committee on Committees. Kyl received his B.A and L.L.B degrees from the University of Arizona and was Editor-In-Chief of the Arizona Law Review.
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