Schlesinger Honored with Professorship in his Name

James R. Schlesinger, chair of the Belfer Center International Council and Harvard alumnus, has been honored by Harvard Kennedy School’s establishment of the James R. Schlesinger Professorship of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy. The endowed professorship, funded by Schlesinger friends and admirers, will focus on contemporary policy issues, with an emphasis on foreign policy, defense, strategy, energy, and intelligence.

Schlesinger helped shape American security policies for more than four decades as secretary of defense, secretary of energy, director of Central Intelligence, and chair of the Atomic Energy Commission. Recently, he chaired the Commission to Investigate the Department of Defense’s Treatment of Detainees and vice chaired the Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.

“Jim Schlesinger has been a great son of Harvard and a great inspiration for those of us who have had the honor to work with him,” said Belfer Center Director Graham Allison. “Who could better symbolize ‘energy and national security’ than the first secretary of energy and one of two people ever to serve as both director of CIA and secretary of defense?”

Robert A. Hefner III, a member of the Center’s International Council, said, “Jim’s brilliant career in energy, national security, and foreign policy has given him unique insight into the truth that one cannot effectively deal with one of these areas in isolation and without full understanding of the other two.” He and his wife MeiLi were the lead contributors to the professorship.

“Jim Schlesinger,” noted HKS Dean David T. Ellwood, “is a monumental figure in American foreign and energy policy.”