Mission

The primary mission of the Tower Center is to promote the study of politics and international affairs and to stimulate an interest in ethical public service among undergraduates. The Tower Center is an academic center where all parties and views are heard in a marketplace of ideas, and the Center pursues its mission in a non partisan manner.

Medal of Freedom

The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor the Tower Center bestows. It is awarded in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the advancement of democratic ideals and to the security, prosperity and welfare of humanity. Recipients include:

• Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Colin Powell
  Colin Powell
  Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
  
    (1997)
• Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Lady Margaret Thatcher
  Margaret Thatcher
  Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
  
    (1999)
• The 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush  (2001)
• General Tommy Franks
  Tommy Franks
  Tommy Ray Franks is a retired general in the United States Army. His last Army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States Armed Forces operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East...
  
    (2003)
• Senator John McCain
  John McCain
  John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
  
    (2006)
• Prime Minister Tony Blair
  Tony Blair
  Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
  
    (2008)
• The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush
  George W. Bush
  George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
  
   and the Former First Lady Laura Bush
  Laura Bush
  Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001, to January 20, 2009. She has held a love of books and reading since childhood and her life and education have reflected that interest...
  
    (2010)

Board of Directors

• The Honorable Dan Branch
  Dan Branch
  Dan Branch is a member of the Texas House of Representatives from Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. First elected in 2002, as a Republican, Branch is currently in his fourth term representing District 108, the "heart of Dallas", which includes Downtown, Uptown, Historic East Dallas, Greenland Hills, Lower...
  
  , Chair
• The Honorable Robert W. Jordan
  Robert W. Jordan
  Robert W. Jordan is a lawyer who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001-03.Jordan received his B.A. degree from Duke University in 1967, his M.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1971 while serving in the U.S. Navy, and his J.D...
  
  , Vice-Chair
• Hugh C. Akin
• Hunter Hunt
• Jan Hart Black
• Jan Rees-Jones
• Frederick Bush
• Gene Jones
• Felix Chen
• Brad E. Cheves, ex officio
• Cary Maguire
• Richard Collins
• Nancy Cain Marcus
• Penny Tower Cook
• Fred Meyer
• Brad O’Leary
• Jeanne Tower Cox
• Pat Patterson
• Thomas M. Dunning
• Rena Pederson
• Robert A. Estrada
• Sarah Perot
• Alan Feld
• The Honorable Jeanne L. Phillips
• The Honorable Richard Fisher
• Joe H. Staley, Jr.
• Darab Ganji
• William M. Tsutsui, ex officio
• Jerome Garza
• Jack C. Vaughn
• Linda Gibbons
• Roger Wallace
• Joseph M. Grant
• Ray Washburne
• Nancy Halbreich
• Jane Wetzel
• The Honorable Karen M. Hughes
• Charles Wyly
• James F. Hollifield, ex officio

Honorary Board of Directors

• The Honorable Howard Baker
  Howard Baker
  Howard Henry Baker, Jr. is a former Senate Majority Leader, Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, White House Chief of Staff, and a former United States Ambassador to Japan.Known in Washington, D.C...
  
  
• The Honorable William L. Ball III
• The Honorable George W. Bush
  George W. Bush
  George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
  
  
• The Honorable William Cohen
  William Cohen
  William Sebastian Cohen is an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.-Early life and education:...
  
  
• The Honorable J. French Hill
• The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison
  Kay Bailey Hutchison
  Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
  
  
• The Honorable Samuel R. Johnson
• The Honorable Tom Loeffler
  Tom Loeffler
  Thomas Gilbert Loeffler is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from central Texas. He was an advisor and fundraiser to the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S...
  
  
• The Honorable John McCain
  John McCain
  John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
  
  
• The Honorable Frederick D. McClure
• Dr. Nicholas Rostow
• The Honorable Carole Keeton Strayhorn
  Carole Keeton Strayhorn
  Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts....