At its Annual Dinner Meeting for 2009 ACFR presented the NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer with its Distinguished Service Award for the Advancement of American Public Discourse on Foreign Policy.

ACFR saluted Jim Lehrer for his advancement of American public discourse on foreign policy. The doyen of American news anchors, Lehrer has set standards for intelligent news coverage and measured analysis that are rarely met by even his most serious and talented colleagues.  His 34 years on PBS and moderatorship of 11 presidential debates have made him an enduring symbol of the sober, public-spirited journalism the American public most admires.

Past recipients of the Award include current National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones (2007), and Amb. Robert Oakley and Amb. Donald Gregg (2006).

ACFR Press Release on 2009 Distinguished Service Award

With the assistance of U.S. Ambassador to Poland (and Tennessee native) Victor Ashe, a dozen members of the Nashville Committee journeyed to Poland in early June 2009.

The group visited historical and cultural sites in Warsaw and Krakow, and made side trips to the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia (Hitler’s heavily bunkered command headquarters for the Nazi Russia campaign), to Auschwitz-Birkenau outside Krakow, and to Poland’s spiritual center, Czestochowa, site of the Pauline Monastery that houses what the Germans call “The Black Madonna” and the Poles “Our Lady of Czestochowa.”

A very full schedule of trip events included, most especially, a dinner party for the group at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence and an hour-long meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and his senior staff.

Pictures from the Nashville Committee's Poland Study Trip

This year's Annual Conference went beyond its predecessors in both style and substance. Amb. Ichiro Fujisaki's reception at the Embassy of Japan was sumptuous and entertaining. 1777 F Street turned out to be a perfect new home for our substantive panels and addresses, and the Franklin Dining Room at the State Department was graced by the presence of host and speaker Rose Gottemoeller, our principal nuclear reduction negotiator with the Russians, and the NewsHour's Jim Lehrer.

Conference speakers included:

John Bruton, EU representative and Ireland's former Taoiseach

Jim Bacchus, Former Congressman and WTO Chief Judge

Amb. Teresita Schaffer, Former ambassador to the Maldives and Sri Lanka

Col. Joseph Collins, National Defense University

Douglas Feith, Former Under Secretary of Defense

Thomas Bagger, Political Counselor from the German Embassy

James Goldgeier, The Council on Foreign Relations

Amb. Kristen Silverberg, Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs

Final Conference Program | Conference Photos