NEWS
Woodrow Wilson Awards
Dinner to Honor Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva
WASHINGTON— The
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of
the Smithsonian Institution will present the Woodrow
Wilson Award for Public Service to His Excellency
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the
Federative Republic of Brazil, at a dinner to be
held on September 21, 2009, at the Waldorf-Astoria
hotel in New York City. Rex W. Tillerson, chairman
and CEO of Exxon Mobil and Eike F. Batista, chairman
and CEO of the Brazilian EBX Group will serve as the
dinner co-chairs for this prestigious event.
“President Lula
personifies the attributes we seek to honor at the
Woodrow Wilson Center. He is a political leader who
contributed decisively to bringing about the end of
military rule and reopening the road to democracy in
his country. This award is a tribute to a statesman
who has strengthened Brazil immensely domestically
and elevated its global standing,” said Lee H.
Hamilton, president and director of the Woodrow
Wilson Center.
President Lula was
elected President in 2002 and re-elected in 2006,
receiving the most votes of any Brazilian President.
Throughout his Presidency he has demonstrated a
steadfast commitment to the ideals of democracy and
proven to skeptics worldwide that there is no
contradiction between sound economic policy and a
progressive social agenda. As President he has
drastically reduced hunger in Brazil with his Fome
Zero (Zero Hunger) program and has instituted
policies to help move Brazil from a foreign debtor
to a foreign creditor for the first time. Before
becoming the President of Brazil Lula served as the
President of a Sao Paulo steel workers union and
founded Brazil’s Workers’ Party.
This is only the third
time that the Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award
will be given to a Brazilian and the first time that
it will be given to a politician. Prior honorees
have included journalist Ruy Mesquita, director of
the Estado de São Paulo, and Dra Zilda Arns, founder
of the Pastoral da Criança. The presidents of the
Board of Directors of Embraer, Maurício Botelho, and
of the Gerdau Group, Jorge Gerdau, received the
Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship in
2006 and 2007, respectively.
The Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, established by
the U.S. Congress in 1968 and headquartered in
Washington, D.C., is the living, national memorial
to the United States’ 28th president. The
Center is one of three American institutions (along
with the National Gallery of Art and the Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts) created by
congressional statute to perform a national mission
within the Smithsonian Institution and is governed
by its own independent Board of Trustees appointed
by the U.S. President.
A nonpartisan
institution supported by public and private funds,
the Center explores national and global issues
through free, open, and informed dialogue. The
Honorable Joseph B. Gildenhorn is chairman of the
Board of Trustees, and previously served as U.S.
ambassador to Switzerland (1983–1993). He will
present the award to President Lula. Lee H.
Hamilton, president and director of the Woodrow
Wilson Center, served as a member of Congress for 34
years and provided service as vice chairman of the
independent 9/11 Commission. He also served as
co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group with former
Secretary of State James Baker.
Contact: Sharon
McCarter
sharon.mccarter@wilsoncenter.org
09/10/2009 (Source:
Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars)
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