An Official Employee Publication From the Office of University Relations

Noted presidential historian and award-winning author Richard Norton Smith has been named the first director of the Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at KU.

Smith is a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and a frequent guest on PBS’ News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He has written or collaborated on eight books, three of them with Dole. He is currently executive director of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation in Grand Rapids, Mich., and previously served as director of the Ford, Reagan, Hoover, and Eisenhower presidential libraries. Smith will begin as Dole director on Dec. 1.

“Richard Norton Smith, with his background, experience, and 20-year association with Sen. Dole, is the ideal person for this job,” Chancellor Hemenway said. “We’re looking forward to the Dole Institute becoming a major public policy institute nationally under his leadership.”

The Dole Institute, established at KU in 1997 to honor the former Kansas senator, is designed to foster new thinking on major policy issues and encourage student participation and citizen involvement in public service. Besides housing Dole’s official and personal papers and congressional material, the institute has sponsored a conference on civility in the U.S. Senate at the capitol and a special program honoring NATO’s 50th anniversary. The institute also sponsors internship programs in Topeka and Washington.

“Rick Smith is a long-time friend of over 20 years,” Sen. Dole said. “He is a true expert in his field and will bring great prestige, integrity, and knowledge to the Institute.”

Smith, who worked for Dole in the 1970s as his speechwriter, collaborated with Dole and his wife, Elizabeth, on their 1988 joint autobiography and also assisted Dole on his two recent books on political humor.

Dole, a Russell native, served four terms in the U.S. House and five terms in the U.S. Senate from Kansas. He was the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, the 1976 vice presidential nominee, and the party’s longest-serving Senate leader.

He attended KU before serving in World War II. He presently is national chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign.

Smith’s appointment brings the historian and biographer back to Kansas, where he organized the Eisenhower Centennial for the National Archives in 1990, and served as acting director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center in Abilene.

“Richard Norton Smith brings a wealth of experience and talent to the Dole Institute,” said Kansas Gov. Bill Graves. “I am thrilled that he is coming to Kansas and I know his work will benefit the Dole Institute, the University of Kansas and the entire state.”

Smith said he was honored to serve as the institute’s first permanent director. “To me, this is more than an opportunity to be in at the beginning of a great new institution -- it’s also a homecoming of sorts,” Smith said. “I have fond memories of visiting Russell while working with Senator and Mrs. Dole on their autobiography, and of an eventful year in Abilene, helping to organize the Eisenhower Centennial.

“For the first time in my career, I’ll have an opportunity to help plan, define, staff, and program a world-class institution from its inception. And to do so in partnership with one of the world’s great universities,” Smith said. “I’m excited by the prospect, and I look forward to working with the KU faculty to make the Dole Institute a source of pride for all Kansans.”

A Harvard University graduate, Smith has written biographies of presidents Hoover and Washington and of Republican presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey. He helped Sen. Dole and Elizabeth Dole write their autobiography, “Unlimited Partners,” and more recently assisted Sen. Dole on his two books of political humor, “Laughing (Almost) All the Way to the White House” and “Great Presidential Wit.”

As the director of presidential libraries, he created innovative educational outreach programs, supervised multi-million-dollar-renovations and expansions, and organized a centennial celebration of President Eisenhower’s life for the National Archives. At the Reagan center, Smith staged several nationally televised conferences.

Burdett Loomis, a professor of political science at KU and nationally known authority on Congress, has served as interim director of the institute since 1997.