Students celebrated the Kennedy Political Union's 40th anniversary on campus Tuesday, while an alumnus celebrated his alma mater's political speakers bureau in the halls of Congress.
Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Mass., who was KPU's director during the 1980-1981 academic year, honored AU on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday, declaring that KPU is an organization that is actively committed to "the expansion of political awareness and engagement."
"Since its inception, the Kennedy Political Union has been student-run, student-funded and non-partisan in its commitment to connecting [AU] students with the most compelling speakers on a wide variety of issues," he said. "I want to thank the speakers who have made the organization what it is today, many of whom are former or current members of [Congress]. I want to wish the Kennedy Political Union continued success now and in the future."
McGovern earned two degrees at AU - his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981 and his Masters of Public Administration degree in 1984. KPU speakers who spoke at AU during McGovern's tenure as KPU director included former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and former Israeli diplomat Abba Eban.
McGovern thanked other KPU directors who have helped the organization succeed, including KPU Director Bill DeBaun.
DeBaun congratulated the volunteers, student leaders and staff members who for four decades helped make KPU a successful, nonpartisan institution.
"Forty years ago today, Ted Sorensen, in the amphitheatre, started what is one of the finest traditions at [AU], which is the Kennedy Political Union," he said. "We've grown KPU into an organization that is one of the finest nationally, that is a rarity nationally in the sense that we are student-run, and I think that this is an institution that AU has been proud of, is proud of now and will only continue to be more proud of."
Ian Wittkopp, a sophomore in the School of International Service, was the first to eat the cake served at the event.
"The cake tastes very nonpartisan," he said.
After the reception, KPU presented a screening of current Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden's 1988 appearance as a KPU speaker. Biden, who was a candidate for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination before Michael Dukakis became the party's nominee, delivered his KPU speech the night after Republican candidate George H.W. Bush defeated Dukakis in the 1988 general election.
Biden focused on American foreign policy responses to increases in capitalist trends that had been occurring in the former Soviet Union. He was critical of what he viewed as Bush and Dukakis' mutual failure to educate the public on their foreign policy views before the election took place.
"We have a president about to take office ... quite frankly, with the American public having little or no knowledge about their views on the most critical change that's taking place in the world today," Biden said during his speech.
Biden also spoke about the type of Democratic presidential candidate the American people would best embrace.
"They want competence, but they also want a leader that can communicate ... that they care deeply about certain things," Biden said during the 1988 speech. "I think what the [Democrats] need is a centrist candidate who in fact understands the nation ... who is able to go to the South, from the North or from the West and be able to campaign in that region of the country ... and understand the traditions and the values and communicate a respect for those."
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