Australia's John Howard Receives 2008 Irving Kristol Award

American Enterprise Institute president Christopher DeMuth announced today that former Australian prime minister John Winston Howard is the recipient of AEI's Irving Kristol Award for 2008. The annual award, selected by the Institute's Council of Academic Advisers, is given to individuals who have made exceptional intellectual or practical contributions to improved government policy, social welfare, or political understanding. Mr. Howard will receive the award and deliver the Irving Kristol Lecture at the Institute's annual dinner on March 5, 2008, at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

John Howard is one of the world's most successful democratic politicians. Chosen as Australia's twenty-fifth prime minister in March 1996, Howard and his party were reelected in 1998, 2001, and 2004--making him his nation's second-longest-serving prime minister at the time of his retirement by the voters in last November's national elections. After September 11, 2001, Prime Minister Howard forged a strong alliance with the United States and Great Britain in the global war on terror, sending Australian troops to Afghanistan and later to Iraq.

In an interview before becoming prime minister, Howard described himself as a quintessential Australian: "I'm direct, unpretentious, and pretty dogged and I hope I've got a capacity to laugh at myself and not take myself too seriously." Those qualities served him well over a long career in Liberal Party politics that began when, at age eighteen, he joined the Young Liberal Movement. He was first elected to parliament in 1974 at the age of thirty-four, and eighteen months later he was named minister for business and consumer affairs by then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser, later serving as minister for special trade negotiations and then as federal treasurer from 1977 to 1983. He was leader of the Liberal Party and the Liberal-National Coalition Opposition in 1985-1989 and, following a period of intra-party turmoil, was unanimously elected opposition leader in 1995. The opposition's 1996 election victory ended an unprecedented thirteen-year incumbency by the Australian Labor Party.

As prime minister, Howard affirmed the independence of Australia's central bank, continued the deregulatory policies of his predecessor, balanced the budget, reorganized the country's welfare system, privatized the Australian telecommunications giant Telstra, reformed labor laws, and cut taxes. Australia's economy soared, even during the Asian financial crisis that devastated so many of its neighbors, growing every year for the past sixteen years. As the editorial page editor of the Australian and former AEI staff member Tom Switzer has written, "[Howard] presided over the longest economic boom since the gold rushes of the nineteenth century."

In foreign policy, Howard was a steadfast friend of the United States. When asked by an interviewer about the Iraq war, he said, "I am not going to be part of a policy which leaves the job unfinished and leaves behind [to] one or two other countries the responsibility of completing the job; that is not the Australian way of doing things." His government took a leadership role in dealing with security and economic problems in small Pacific countries such as the Solomon Islands, as well as in East Timor, where Australian troops are the mainstay of the country's current stability.

Born on July 26, 1939, John Howard attended the University of Sydney, receiving a bachelor of laws in 1961 and being admitted as a solicitor of the New South Wales Supreme Court in July 1962. He met his wife, Janette, a teacher, at a political rally.

Howard's parents chose "Winston" as his middle name in honor of Winston Churchill. Howard's political defeat in 2007 after a long and successful service was reminiscent of the great British leader's defeat after World War II. Like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan before him, Howard has a strong commitment to the Anglosphere alliance.

In his interview before assuming his post as prime minister, Mr. Howard was asked what he would like to see for his country by the year 2000. He said he would like to see his nation "comfortable and relaxed" about its history, the present, and the future. He said he wanted to position Australia at a unique intersection of Europe, North America, and Asia, to carve a "special niche for ourselves . . . in the history of the next century." His record of accomplishment suggests that has been done.

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The Irving Kristol Award, awarded annually by AEI's Council of Academic Advisers, recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary intellectual or practical contributions to improved government policy, social welfare, or political understanding. The award was established in 2002 in honor of AEI senior fellow Irving Kristol, replacing the Institute's Francis Boyer Award which had been awarded during the previous twenty-five years. A list of recipients appears at www.aei.org/kristolaward, as do most of the Irving Kristol and Francis Boyer Lectures.

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Press Comments about AEI's 2008 Annual Dinner

In "Pondering the Meaning of Jumbuck, Billabong and Obama," the Wall Street Journal's Political Diary on March 7,  Melanie Kirkpatrick and John Fund wrote:

Who says conservatives don't have fun? More than 1,000 policy wonks gathered Wednesday evening in a Washington hotel for the annual dinner of the American Enterprise Institute. They pursued their favorite activity--talking politics--over cocktails, a four-course dinner, and the swing sounds of the Eric Felten Orchestra.

But first a singalong: "Waltzing Matilda"--all eight beguiling verses--in honor of the evening's special guest, John Howard, who recently stepped down after 12 transforming years as prime minister of Australia. No translation was provided, so it's unclear how many of the bejeweled and tuxedoed assembly grasped the meaning of such Aussie-isms as "jumbuck," "tucker bag," "billabong" and "swagman."

But no matter. The meaning of Mr. Howard's remarks was abundantly clear. . . . [I]t was his comments on the U.S.-Australian alliance that drew the crowd's warmest applause. Mr. Howard told the story of the first time he met President Bush--at the White House on September 10, 2001. In the following 24 hours, he said, "the world was turned on its head" and he realized it was "not a time for the United States to have 80-percent allies. This was a time for the United States to have 100-percent allies."

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In the March 12 edition of the Australian newspaper, Janet Albrechtsen wrote in "Never Mind the Haters, Just Look at Conservatism":

Speaking to The Australian in his first interview since losing the 2007 election, [former prime minister John] Howard is characteristically philosophical about his critics, his election loss, the state of conservatism and the future of the Liberal Party. For Howard, it is history that counts. And he is confident that history is on his side. Just as it will be on the side of conservatism.

The American Enterprise Institute, one of the most influential policy institutes in the US, has an eye on history, too. Which explains why one has to travel to Washington to see Howard get the dues he deserves, receiving the AEI's renowned annual award. It is given to an individual who has, in the words of the AEI, "made extraordinary intellectual or practical contributions to improved government policy or social welfare."

Asked whether he accepts the lingering hostility some Liberals feel towards him, Howard says, "Leave me out of that," telling The Australian only that, "whenever a party loses, people want to move away from the past. Those things tend to find their balance. If you've got red meat achievements to point to, that will sort itself out over time."

Those achievements place Howard "right at the AEI sweet spot" says Christopher DeMuth, the president of the AEI. DeMuth points to Howard's economic policies that balanced the budget, continued the deregulatory policies of the Hawke/Keating governments, reorganised Australia's welfare system, privatised Telstra, reformed labour laws and cut taxes. And the Howard government's unerring support for the Iraq war, which has strengthened the US alliance, drew rounds of applause from the high-powered group of more than 1000 people who attended the black-tie dinner in Washington to pay tribute to Howard.

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In a March 7 Washington Times article, "Australia's Howard AEI's Top Mate," Stephanie Mansfield wrote:

Any Washington dinner that begins with a rousing chorus of "Waltzing Matilda" sung by 1,000 people and ends with spirited 1940s ballroom dancing has to be loads of fun. And so it was for the (mostly) Republican crowd of policy-makers, journalists and political scientists getting their wonk on in the Washington Hilton's ballroom Wednesday night at the American Enterprise Institute's annual Irving Kristol Award dinner.

The honored guest was former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, looking dapper in black tie, who came to drink and dine with Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, Joshua B. Bolten, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, William Kristol, protocol chief Nancy Brinker (regal in black Gaultier) and Lynne Cheney, looking snappy in a white cropped jacket.

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In "Howard for President!"--an article on National Review Online on March 18--Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote:

Have you been singing the political blues? Have you been waiting for a politician to say the right things and are more than a little disappointed with the right-of-center political landscape as we approach Spring 2008? Well, have I got the guy for you. He's a leader. He's honest. And he's available. The one hitch--isn't there always one?--is that he's an Aussie. But constitutions are made to be amended.

At the annual American Enterprise Institute gala at the Washington Hilton in early March, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard delivered a full-spectrum apologia for conservatism. Recipient of the Irving Kristol Award that night at this think tank known for "neoconservative" foreign policy, Howard did a lot more than simply defend the war in Iraq and emphasize the need to stay vigilant in the fight against Islamic fascism, which would have been an important testimony in and of itself.