DBU Institute for Global Engagement and World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort-Worth Hosts Attorney General William P. Barr

DBU's Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) lecture series, in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort-Worth, hosted a special conversation with former Attorney General William P. Barr on June 21. The event was held in the Hillcrest Great Hall of the John G. Mahler Student Center on the DBU campus.

Dr. Adam C. Wright, DBU President, and Liz Brailzford, President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort-Worth, each provided a welcome to the on and off campus guests. Lee Cullum, Dallas journalist and Senior Fellow of the John Tower Center for Political Studies at SMU, served as the moderator for the evening's discussion.

Barr provided personal reflections on serving as Attorney General under Republican Presidents George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump. He also expressed his particular admiration for "the greatest president in my lifetime," populist President Reagan, who had the ability to unite the Republican coalition and even win over some classical liberal Democrats in 1981 to achieve a decisive victory and inaugurate a new "era."

Barr also commented on the challenges of public education today, recommending a voucher system that gives parents more "purchasing power to go out and select the best school for their kid," which includes choosing schools rooted in Judeo-Christian values of objective truth.

Barr holds an A.B. and M.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from George Washington University. He spent a decade practicing law at a Washington firm, interrupted by a stint serving in the Reagan White House. President George H. W. Bush successively appointed Barr Assistant Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and, finally, the 77th Attorney General. Barr retired in 2008 after fifteen years as general counsel of GTE Corporation and its successor company, Verizon, after which he served on a number of corporate boards and consulted for corporate clients. Barr agreed to serve as the 85th Attorney General for the last two years of President Trump's term.