William Arthur Galston (; born January 17, 1946) holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies and is a senior fellow at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

; he joined the think tank on January 1, 2006. Formerly the Saul Stern Professor and Dean at the School of Public Policy at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

and a professor of political science at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, Austin, Galston specializes in issues of U.S.

public philosophy Public philosophy is a subfield of philosophy that involves engagement with the public. Jack Russell Weinstein defines public philosophy as "doing philosophy with general audiences in a non-academic setting".. It must be undertaken in a public ven ...

and political institutions.

Family

He is the son of

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

plant physiologist Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bio ...

Arthur Galston Arthur W. Galston (April 21, 1920 – June 15, 2008) was an American plant physiologist and bioethicist. As a plant biologist, Galston studied plant hormones and the effects of light on plant development, particularly phototropism. He identifie ...

Career

He was deputy assistant for domestic policy to U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

(January 1993 – May 1995). He has also been employed by the presidential campaigns of

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

(1988, 2000),

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

, and

John B. Anderson John Bayard Anderson (February 15, 1922 – December 3, 2017) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 16th congressional district from 1961 to 1981. A member o ...

. Since 1995, Galston has served as a founding member of the Board of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and as chair of the Campaign's Task Force on Religion and Public Values. Galston was in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, serving as a sergeant. He was educated at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he was a member of the

Telluride House The Telluride House, formally the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association (CBTA), and commonly referred to as just "Telluride", is a highly selective residential community of Cornell University students and faculty. Founded in 1910 by Ame ...

, and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he got his Ph.D. He then taught for nearly a decade in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. From 1998 until 2005 he was professor of public policy at the University of Maryland. Later he was

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

for the National Commission on Civic Renewal. Galston founded, with support from

The Pew Charitable Trusts The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948. With over 6 billion in assets, its stated mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, a ...

, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. He was also director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, both located at the University of Maryland. He has written on questions of political and moral philosophy,

U.S. politics The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that Separation of powers, share powers. These are: the United States Congress, U.S. Congre ...

and public policy, having produced eight books and more than one hundred articles. His most recent book is ''Public Matters: Politics, Policy, and Religion in the 21st Century'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005). Galston is also a co-author of ''Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation and What We Can Do About It'', published by the Brookings Press. Galston became an op-ed columnist for the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' in 2013. In 2014, he continued public commentary on partisan politics.

Publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

*
The Brookings Institution profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galston, William Living people Place of birth missing (living people) American political philosophers 1946 births Jewish American academics Jewish philosophers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss United States Marines Cornell University alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Maryland, College Park faculty University of Texas faculty Clinton administration personnel Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Philosophers from Texas Philosophers from Illinois Philosophers from Maryland Brookings Institution people