Andrew J. Bacevich to speak on behalf of The Lore Kephart '86 Distinguished Historians Lecture Series

On Monday, September 27, 2010, (7 PM, Connelly Center, Villanova University), Andrew J. Bacevich, PhD, a professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, will speak at the second annual Lore Kephart '86 Distinguished Historians Lecture Series. A graduate of West Point with a PhD in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University, Dr. Bacevich is a "Catholic conservative" and the author of the much-discussed The Limits of Power.  He is also a father who lost his own son, a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, in action Iraq.

Having titled his talk "Whose Army?" Dr. Bacevich will reflect on civil and military relations in the U.S. since World War II, a talk that will inevitably move Dr. Bacevich toward a question he has recently asked in the press:  "Who is more deserving of contempt? The commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause, however misguided, in which he sincerely believes? Or the commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause in which he manifestly does not believe and yet refuses to forsake?"

My mother, in whose memory my father created this lecture series, would have loved the intellectual rigor that Dr. Bacevich will no doubt bring to this talk.  She would have loved knowing that her love of knowing was again bringing so many together.  This morning, in moving through my files in search of an elusive contract, I found instead an essay my mother had written while she was herself a student at Villanova.  Mom received her college degree late in life, but when she set down to academic business, she soared, earning top recognition as a scholar.  "Books are, have been, and always will be jewels of contentment for me," she wrote in the essay I was lucky enough to rediscover this morning.

A legacy passed on, in so many ways.

Please join us for this lecture, which is open to the public.