Lee Herbert Hamilton (born April 20, 1931) is an American politician and lawyer from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He is a former member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

and a former member of the U.S.

Homeland Security Advisory Council The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It was created by an Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the Unit ...

. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Hamilton represented the 9th congressional district of

from 1965 to 1999. Following his departure from Congress, he has served on a number of governmental advisory boards, most notably as the vice chairman of the

9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...

Early life and education

Born in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

, Hamilton was raised in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, attending the public schools and graduating from

Evansville Central High School Evansville Central High School, also known as Central High, is a public high school on the north side of Evansville, Indiana. It is the oldest high school in continuous operation west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was established in 1854 as Evan ...

in 1948. An outstanding basketball player, he led the Central Bears to the state title game in March 1948; he then continued his playing career at

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

, where he played for Coach

Jay McCreary Lawrence J. "Jay" McCreary (February 6, 1918 – April 17, 1995) was an American basketball player and coach. He won championships as a player in both high school and college, and as a high school coach in Indiana. McCreary also served as head ...

before graduating in 1952 and then from the Indiana Univ. School of Law in 1956. He worked as a lawyer in private practice for the next ten years in

Columbus, Indiana Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 50,474 at the 2020 census. The relatively small city has provided a unique place for noted Modern architecture and public art, commissio ...

Congress

Hamilton was elected to the House of Representatives as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

as part of the national Democratic landslide of 1964. He chaired many committees during his tenure in office, including the

House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...

, the

U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Adam Schiff. It is the primary committ ...

, the

Joint Committee on Printing The Joint Committee on Printing is a Joint committee (legislative), joint committee of the United States Congress devoted to overseeing the functions of the United States Government Publishing Office, Government Publishing Office and general printi ...

, and others. As chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran (1987), Hamilton chose not to investigate President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

or President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

, stating that he did not think it would be "good for the country" to put the public through another impeachment trial. Hamilton was later chair of the

House October Surprise Task Force The House October Surprise Task Force (formally ''Task Force of the Committee on Foreign Affairs to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of Americans as Hostages by Iran in 1980'') was a task force instituted by the United States ...

(1992). He remained in Congress until 1999; at the time he was one of two surviving members of the large Democratic freshman class of 1965 (the other being

John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...

). He was viewed as a potential Democratic vice-presidential running mate in 1984, 1988, and 1992, due to his foreign policy credentials and Indiana's potential to turn into what would later be described as a "blue" state due to economic concerns.

Life after Congress

In November 2002, George W. Bush nominated Hamilton as the Vice-Chairman of the

, officially titled The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States. On March 15, 2006, Congress announced the formation of the

Iraq Study Group The Iraq Study Group (ISG) also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and ...

, organized by the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American Federal government of the United States, federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individual ...

, of which Hamilton was the Democratic co-chairman, along with the former Secretary of State (under President George H.W. Bush) James A. Baker III. Hamilton, like Baker, was considered a master negotiator. Since leaving Congress, Mr. Hamilton has served as a member of the Hart-Rudman Commission, and was co-chairman of the Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos. He sits on many advisory boards, including those to the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

, the President's

, and the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. Hamilton is an Advisory Board member and Co-Chair for the

Partnership for a Secure America Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) is a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to promote bipartisan solutions to today's critical national security and foreign policy issues. Created by former Congressman Lee H. Hamilton and f ...

, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. He is previously the president and director of the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (or Wilson Center) is a quasi-government entity and think tank which conducts research to inform public policy. Located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washi ...

, and was appointed to serve as the vice chair of the

. In 2000–2001, he served as the American member of the

International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) was an ad hoc commission of participants which in 2001 worked to popularize the concept of humanitarian intervention under the name of "Responsibility to protect". The Commis ...

, which prepared the U.N policy of

Responsibility to Protect The Responsibility to Protect (R2P or RtoP) is a global political commitment which was endorsed by all member states of the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit in order to address its four key concerns to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic ...

, adopted in 2005. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of

Albright Stonebridge Group Dentons Global Advisors ASG, formerly Albright Stonebridge Group, is a global business strategy firm based in Washington, D.C., United States. It was created in 2009 through the merger of international consulting firms The Albright Group, founde ...

. He was appointed Co-Chair of the

Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future A Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future was appointed by President Obama to look into future options for existing and future nuclear waste, following the ending of work on the incomplete Yucca Mountain Repository. At present, there ...

from 2010–2012 alongside

Brent Scowcroft Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military Assi ...

. He is also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank, the Inter-American Dialogue. Hamilton serves as a co-chair of the National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG) at the

Bipartisan Policy Center The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that promotes bipartisanship. The organization aims to combine ideas from both the Republican and Democratic parties to address challenges in the U.S. BPC focuses on iss ...

. Hamilton is a co-chair with

Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...

of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. He also serves as an Advisory Board member for the

and for

America Abroad Media ''America Abroad'' was a monthly documentary radio program produced by America Abroad Media (AAM), a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization. The program was distributed by Public Radio International (PRI) and broadcast on public radio stati ...

. On February 25, 2011, Hamilton wrote a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to commute

Jonathan Pollard Jonathan Jay Pollard (born August 7, 1954) is a former intelligence analyst for the United States government. In 1987, as part of a plea agreement, Pollard pleaded guilty to spying for and providing top-secret classified information to Israel. H ...

's sentence to time served. Pollard was serving a life sentence for providing Israel with classified information, without the intent to harm the United States, a crime which normally carries a sentence of two to four years. In his letter, he stated, "I do believe that he has served a disproportionately severe sentence." He also stated, "I have been acquainted for many years with members of his family, especially his parents, and I know how much pain and anguish they have suffered because of their son's incarceration." He concluded that, "commuting his sentence is a matter of basic compassion and justice. Pollard was granted parole on July 7, 2015, and released on November 20, 2015. On August 11, 2012, Hamilton's wife Nancy died in an auto-related accident; no one else was injured. Prior to her death, Mrs. Hamilton was an accomplished artist. In 1981 her oil paintings and watercolors were featured in an exhibit at The Commons and in 1984 she had a one-woman show at a Seymour art gallery. Mrs. Hamilton also contributed thousands of hours at the INOVA Alexandria Virginia Hospital. Hamilton endorsed

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

in the 2008 presidential election. Hamilton is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of

Issue One Issue One is an American nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics. It aims to increase public awareness of what it views as problems within the present campaign finance system, and to reduce the influ ...

World Justice Project

Lee H. Hamilton serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the

World Justice Project The World Justice Project (WJP) is an international civil society organization with the stated mission of "working to advance the rule of law around the world". It produces the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, a quantitative assessment t ...

. The

works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the

Rule of Law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Honors and awards

A nine-mile stretch of

I-265 Interstate 265 (I-265) is a Interstate Highway partially encircling the Louisville metropolitan area. Starting from I-65 in the southern part of Louisville, it runs through Jefferson County, Kentucky, crosses the Ohio River on the Lewis ...

and Indiana 265 in Floyd and Clark counties, part of Hamilton's former House district, was designated the "Lee H. Hamilton Highway" shortly after his retirement from the House in 1999. The

moniker A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

is largely symbolic, as locals generally do not refer to the road by that name, although the name is used frequently by the traffic reporter for the area's largest radio station, WHAS 840-AM in nearby

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. In 1982, Hamilton was inducted into the

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is a sports museum and hall of fame in New Castle, Indiana. While it honors men and women associated with high school, college, and professional basketball in Indiana, an emphasis is placed on the athlete's high ...

, in honor of his outstanding prep basketball career; he led the Evansville Central Bears to three deep runs in the IHSAA tournament. In 1946, the Bears made the State Semi-finals, in 1947, they made the State Quarter-finals; as a Senior, he led them to the Championship game. He was selected All-State his senior season and was awarded the Trestor Award for mental attitude. He later starred for the

DePauw Tigers The DePauw Tigers are the athletic teams that represent DePauw University, a small liberal arts school in Greencastle, Indiana. The university's teams play in the NCAA Division III and currently belong to the North Coast Athletic Conference. DeP ...

, leading them in scoring average in 1951 and rebounds in 1951 and 1952. In 2001 Lee H. Hamilton was presented the Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award by the

American Foreign Service Association American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), established in 1924, is the professional association of the United States Foreign Service. With over 15,000 dues-paying members, American Foreign Service Association represents 28,000 active and retir ...

. In 2005, Hamilton received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. In 2011, Hamilton received the

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, previously known as the Benjamin Harrison Home, is the former home of the twenty-third president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison. It is in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis, Indian ...

Advancing American Democracy Award. In November 2015, Hamilton was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

in a ceremony at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. In 2018,

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

announced that the School of Global and International Studies will be renamed the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in honor of Hamilton and former U.S. Senator

Richard Lugar Richard Green Lugar (April 4, 1932 – April 28, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party. Born in Indianapolis, Lugar graduated from De ...

, describing both as "two immensely accomplished Indiana statesmen and two of the nation's most distinguished and influential voices in foreign policy."

Bibliography

* ''A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and the Congress'', with Jordan Tama, Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2003. *''How Congress Works and Why You Should Care''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004. *''Without Precedent, the Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission,'' with T. H. Kean, New York: Vintage Books, Random House, Inc., 2007. *''Strengthening Congress''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009. *''The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.

References

External links

Foreign Service Journal article on his Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
wilsoncenter.org
Lee Hamilton Biography and Resources
wilsoncenter.org
Iraq Study Group
usip.org
Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
washingtonpost.com

Op-Ed piece co-authored with

Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Kean served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Following his tenure as governor, ...

in the edition of January 2, 2008 of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

(accessed January 2, 2008) * Hamilton, Lee H
How Congress Works and Why You Should Care
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. * Hamilton, Lee H
Strengthening Congress
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. * *
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Hamilton, January 8, 2006

A Legacy of Honor:The Congressional Papers of Lee H. Hamilton

Lilly Library The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University (Bloomington), Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library co ...

, Bloomington, IN , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Lee 1931 births Living people DePauw Tigers men's basketball players People from Columbus, Indiana People from Daytona Beach, Florida Indiana University Maurer School of Law alumni Indiana lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients National Bureau of Asian Research American men's basketball players Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award Members of the Inter-American Dialogue