2011 Annual Report and Dinner Booklet

2011 Annual Dinner Invitation

The Benjamin Franklin Award For Public Service

FPRI has always sought to bring the best of scholarship to bear on foreign policy problems. Moreover, a crucial part of the Institute's program stresses the importance of public service on behalf of the nation. These two elements are also symbolized by the career of Benjamin Franklin, who devoted himself from an early age to public service and the resolution of problems through objective analysis that draws upon the best knowledge available. Franklin's international career culminated in his role as a diplomat whose work proved crucial in securing American independence.

In 2005, on the occasion of FPRI.s 50th anniversary and on the eve of the 300th birthday of Benjamin Franklin, we were pleased to inaugurate the annual Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Service, to be awarded each year to the person whose public service best exemplifies the ideals of Benjamin Franklin and the United States. Dr. Henry A. Kissinger was the first honoree, followed by Charles Krauthammer, Philip Zelikow, John R. Bolton, Robert D. Kaplan and Niall Ferguson. FPRI's trustees are now pleased to present this award to Fouad Ajami.

Fouad Ajami

Fouad Ajami is one of the most astute observers of the Middle East, with a poet's gift for expression on display in his many essays for Foreign Affairs magazine, the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and elsewhere. Particularly at this time of turmoil throughout the Middle East, he is a ubiquitous presence on CNN.

A naturalized U.S. citizen born in Southern Lebanon, Professor Ajami is a senior fellow at The Hoover Institution and co-chairman of Hoover's Working Group on Islamism and the International Order. Until recently, he was the Majid Khadduri professor and Director of Middle East Studies at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a post he held for 30 years. Between 1989 and 2008, he was a contributing editor for U.S. News and World Report. In June 2002, he was elected by the members of the Council on Foreign Relations to a five-year term on the Council's Board of Directors, and re-elected in 2007. His books include The Arab Predicament; The Vanished Imam; The Dream Palace of the Arabs; and The Foreigner's Gift: The Americans, the Arabs and the Iraqis in Iraq.

Professor Ajami has been the recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Bradley Prize for Outstanding Achievement, the National Humanities Medal and the Eric Breindel Prize in Journalism.

Keynote Address, Audio and Video of Fouad Ajami

Reflections on the Arab Spring

Welcoming Remarks by Annual Dinner Chairman, Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr.

Tribute to the late Harvey Sicherman by Walter A. McDougall.

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Remarks by FPRI Acting President Alan H. Luxenberg.

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Presentation of Benjamin Franklin Public Service Award to Fouad Ajami by the Hon. John Hillen.

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