Last modified: Monday, March 28, 2005
Lee Hamilton to visit IU Bloomington, April 4-8
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton will participate in a series of events, including public lectures, April 4-8 at Indiana University Bloomington.
Hamilton is director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University and Distinguished Citizen Fellow at IU's Institute for Advanced Study. He has served as vice chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission) and a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (Hart-Rudman Commission).
He spent 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's Ninth District. In 1999, he became director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and the Center on Congress, housed at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Here are several highlights of Hamilton's visit:
- The 17th Annual Paul McNutt Lecture, "Is Congress up to the Challenge? The Case for a Coequal Branch," at 7:30 p.m. on April 4 in the Georgian Room at the Indiana Memorial Union. The lecture is part of the Indiana Magazine of History's centennial celebration.
- Lecture on IU Press book How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, at 2 p.m. on April 5 in the Moot Court Room at the IU School of Law-Bloomington.
- Institute for Advanced Study lecture on "How to Use American Power," noon on April 6 in the Moot Court Room at the IU School of Law-Bloomington.
- In connection with the McNutt lecture on April 4, the Lilly Library is installing an exhibit from Hamilton's congressional papers in the wall cases of the Lilly Lounge. The exhibit, which will be on display from April 4 through May 31, is organized around the many roles of a congressman as Hamilton articulated them in his writings and speeches. It also traces his lifelong concern with making Congress work as the Constitution intended.
Hamilton also is scheduled to meet with students, faculty and alumni during his weeklong visit to the Bloomington campus.
"Lee Hamilton is a historian in his own right. He served Indiana in the House for more than three decades, and through that time he was an uncommonly reflective legislator -- not only about domestic and international issues, but also about the legislative process itself," said Eric Sandweiss, Carmony Associate Professor of History at IUB. "From his perspective today, looking back on changes in Congress since the early 1960s, I think he can teach a lesson that's valuable for both historical and political reasons."
