David Abshire

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) web site, David M. Abshire is president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and vice chairman of the board of the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. and chairman of its Capital Development Committee. He was its cofounder in 1962 and served as its chief executive for many years."

"David Abshire is a 1951 graduate of West Point and later received his doctorate in history from Georgetown University, where for many years he was an adjunct professor at its School of Foreign Service.

"He served as Assistant Secretary of State in the early 1970's and later as chairman of the U.S. Board of International Broadcasting. He was a member of the Murphy Commission on the Organization of the Government, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and the President's Task Force on U.S. Government International Broadcasting. During the transition of government in 1980, Dr. Abshire was asked by President-elect Ronald Reagan to head the National Security Group, which included the State and Defense Departments, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency. He has also served on the advisory board of the Naval War College and on the executive panel of the Chief of Naval Operations.

"More recently (1983-1987), he was ambassador to NATO where, in reaction to the threat posed by Soviet SS-20 missiles, he was the U.S. point man in Europe for deployment of Pershing and cruise missiles. It was this NATO success that convinced the Soviets to sign the historic INF Treaty and withdraw their missiles. Ambassador Abshire initialed a new conventional-defense-improvements effort so that NATO would not have to rely so much on nuclear weapons. For this, he was given the highest Defense Department Civilian award-its Distinguished Public Service Medal.

"In 1987 he served as special counsellor to President Reagan with cabinet rank, and had authority to meet with the president alone.

"Dr. Abshire is a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, the Council on Competitiveness, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Fondation Paul-Henri Spaak (Brussels), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London), the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States, and is a founding member of the Trinity National Leadership Roundtable.

"In the business world, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Ogden Corporation and was formerly on the Advisory Board of British Petroleum-America, and from 1987 to 1996, he served on the board of the Procter and Gamble Company and was the first chairman of its Public Policy Committee. He also serves on the board of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. Dr. Abshire is also a former trustee of Baylor School.

"Dr. Abshire was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1926. He graduated from Baylor School in 1944 and received his bachelor's degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1951 and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1959. He received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1992 and a Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, from the University of the South in 1994. In the Korean War, he served as a platoon leader, company commander, and division assistant intelligence officer. He received the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster with V for Valor, Commendation Ribbon with medal pendant, and Combat Infantry Badge.

"He has also received the John Carroll Award for outstanding service by a Georgetown University alumnus; the Gold Medal of the Sons of the American Revolution; the Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award; the Order of the Crown (Belgium); Commander de l'Ordre de Leopold (Belgium); the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic, Senate, Parliament and Government; Grand Official of the Order of the Republic of Italy; Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Heung-In Medal (Korea); the Insignia of the Commander, First Class, Order of the Lion of Finland; the 1994 U.S. Military Academy's Castle Award; and in 1999, the Order of the Liberator (Argentina). In addition to the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal Distinguished Graduate Award of the United States Military Academy.

"In addition to numerous journal, magazine and newspaper articles, Dr. 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). His latest book, co-authored with Brock Brower, Putting America's House in Order: The Nation as a Family, was published by Praeger in 1996."

Copied from the CSIS Web Site.

He is also on the Board of Counselors for the Arabic media group Layalina Productions.

Affiliations

• Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Trustee, George C. Marshall Foundation
• Trustee, Center for the Study of the Presidency
• Advisory Board, Policy Innovations