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Bruce Herschensohn Hosts Weekly Roundtable on
Foreign Policy
Is Obama experienced enough overseas? How will McCain’s policies fare? What’s going to happen in the Republic of Georgia? How do we end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
"We will not be running short on topics," laughs Bruce Herschensohn, senior fellow at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. After the success of last year’s series, he will once again conduct weekly U.S. foreign policy roundtable discussions focusing on current international events for all students and members of the community.
The only rule for these roundtable discussions? "Interrupt me any time you want," Herschensohn says, "and I really mean it. I don’t want it to be a three-hour speech; I want it to be discussion that everyone can be involved in."
The roundtables will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday evenings beginning Sept. 11 in classroom 188 on the Drescher Graduate Campus. They are free and all are welcome to attend.
"The idea of starting it on 9/11 was not coincidental; I did that intentionally," says Herschensohn, who notes that the war on terror will be an important topic, but that no topic is off-limits. "It mainly just depends on two things: the participants and the events that are current," he says. "I don’t want anyone there to feel restricted in what they say. I’d like this to be free and easy."
Last year, for instance, several students had an interest in ballistic missile defense. There was also a great deal of personal attention given to students who wanted to go into civil or foreign service. Other topics Herschensohn hopes to touch on: the power of the media on foreign policy; the continuing effect of the Vietnam experience on current policy; United Nations and other international organizations/alliances; and the quest for a world of democracies.
Who should come to the roundtable discussions? "Anyone who’s interested enough to devote Thursday nights to it," Herschensohn says. "No one is going to be graded; there isn’t a test. They don’t have to do anything except be there and hopefully participate."
About Bruce Herschensohn
Bruce Herschensohn has been a television and radio political commentator for more than two decades. After service in the United States Air Force, he began his own motion picture company and was appointed director of motion pictures and television for the United States Information Agency (USIA). In 1969, he was selected as one of the 10 Outstanding Young Men in the Federal Government. He received the second highest civilian award, the Distinguished Service Medal, and then became deputy special assistant to President Nixon. He was appointed a member of the Reagan Transition Team and in 1992 was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in California. He was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University and a Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute. Herschensohn is the author of several books, the most recent being, Taiwan: The Threatened Democracy (2006) and Above Empyrean (2008).
