Release: Arthur C. Brooks, AEI President Emeritus, to Receive AEI’s Irving Kristol Award This November
July 20, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Washington, DC (July 20, 2022) — American Enterprise Institute (AEI) president Robert Doar announced today that Arthur C. Brooks, who served as president of AEI from 2009 to 2019, will receive the Irving Kristol Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Institute, on November 15, 2022.
Dr. Brooks serves as William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. He is also a contributing writer at the Atlantic, where he writes the weekly column “How to Build a Life” on the meaning and pursuit of happiness.
While serving as president of AEI, Dr. Brooks also held the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Free Enterprise. During his tenure, he oversaw the creation of the Institute’s research programs on poverty and human potential. Before joining AEI, Dr. Brooks held the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business and Government at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Speaking at a time of deep unrest and pessimism about America’s future, Dr. Brooks will argue that the nation and its citizens are destroying themselves from within by believing in pernicious “untruths” about capitalism, globalism, and polarization peddled by populists on both the left and right. Nonetheless, he is also hopeful that beyond these troubled times lies a new era of American strength and prosperity.
Dr. Brooks is the bestselling author of 12 books on topics such as fairness, economic opportunity, happiness, and the morality of free enterprise. His latest book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (Portfolio, 2022), debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list.
Said Robert Doar, “Arthur Brooks is one of the most influential social scientists and public intellectuals of our time. He also was an outstanding president of AEI. I have a deep admiration for Arthur as both an academic and a friend, and there is no better person to share in Irving Kristol’s legacy than a man who has so profoundly shaped America’s political culture for good.”
Replied Dr. Brooks, “I’m honored and grateful to receive this special award from AEI, an institution I so deeply admire and had the privilege to lead. Most of all, I am humbled to be associated with the great Irving Kristol, whose life and work have been so inspirational.”
The Irving Kristol Award, the highest honor bestowed by AEI, is given annually to individuals who have made exceptional practical and intellectual contributions to improve government policy, social welfare, or political understanding. Established in 2002 in honor of AEI Senior Fellow Irving Kristol, the accolade replaced the Francis Boyer Award, which had been given for the previous 25 years. Previous recipients include Gerald Ford, Arthur F. Burns, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Antonin Scalia, Dick Cheney, Alan Greenspan, Paul Ryan, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Boris Johnson, Nikki Haley, Nicholas Eberstadt, and Mary Ann Glendon.
This event is by invitation only. For additional information regarding the Irving Kristol Award or other media inquiries, please contact AEI Media Services at [email protected] or 202.862.5829.
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