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2004 International Speaker Series

Senator Richard Lugar

Senator Richard Lugar, the longest serving U.S. Senator in Indiana history, was the inaugural speaker in the University of Evansville's 2004-05 Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana's International Speaker Series August 17, 2004.

Lugar addressed the "Changing World Environment" today and how college students must be preparing for the future they are about to enter.

Lugar is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a member and former chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976 and won a fifth term in 2000, his third consecutive victory by a two-third majority.

Prior to his run for the Senate, Lugar served for two terms as the mayor of Indianapolis.

Lugar has been a leader in reducing the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Through the bipartisan Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program created in 1991, more than 6,000 nuclear warheads have been deactivated. Following 9/11, Lugar crafted a document defining his vision for the U.S. direction in war for years to come. It states: "The United States will use all of its military, diplomatic and economic power - without question - to ensure that life threatening weapons of mass destruction everywhere are accounted, contained and hopefully destroyed. Additionally, the Lugar Doctrine asserts that the U.S. should encourage democratic institutions and decrease dependence on foreign energy sources."

On July 22, following the release of the 9/11 Commission Report, Lugar noted that the report is a useful historical document. "More importantly, the President, the Congress and all U.S. and international institutions engaged in the war on terror, must focus on the future. The Commission makes many recommendations - including expansion of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program - that will need to be considered, along with steps already taken since 9/11."