As part of its Law Success Program, the Syracuse University College of Law will host
Richard Thornburgh, former governor of Pennsylvania and distinguished public servant,
on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 11:45 a.m. in Hendricks Chapel. Public parking is available in
the Irving Garage.
Thornburgh served as governor of Pennsylvania, U.S. attorney general under Presidents
Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and under-secretary general of the United
Nations during a public career that spanned more than 25 years. He is currently counsel
to the international law firm of K&L Gates LLP in its Washington, D.C., office.
Elected governor in 1978 and re-elected in 1982, Thornburgh was the first Republican
ever to serve two successive terms in that office. Following the unprecedented Three Mile
Island nuclear accident in 1979, he was described by observers as "one of the few
authentic heroes of that episode as a calm voice against panic."
He was director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy
School of Government from 1987-88.
After his unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Thornburgh served three years as
U.S. attorney general (1988-1991) in the cabinets of Presidents Reagan and Bush. He
mounted a vigorous attack on white-collar crime as the Department of Justice obtained a
record number of convictions of savings and loan and securities officials, defense
contractors and corrupt public officials.
A native of Pittsburgh, Thornburgh was educated at Yale University, where he obtained
an engineering degree, and at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he
served as an editor of the Law Review. He has been awarded honorary degrees by 32
colleges and universities.
Thornburgh has lectured on more than 125 campuses, including Moscow State
University, and he has debated at the Oxford Union and appeared frequently as a guest
commentator on network news and talk shows.
The Feb. 18 event is sponsored by the SU College of Law, the Institute for National
Security and Counterterrorism, the Federalist Society and the Burton Blatt Institute. For
more information, contact assistant visiting professor William Snyder at (315) 443-6655.
