Political adviser to lead Dole Institute

A former White House political director for President Ronald Reagan who also was Sen. Bob Dole’s political strategist for 10 years will head the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics.

William B. Lacy will succeed Richard Norton Smith as the institute’s director. Smith left last year to oversee the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill.

Lacy’s appointment is effective Sept. 7. Stephen McAllister, who has been the interim institute director for 10 months, will return to his position as law school dean.

Lacy, 50, has known Dole for 18 years and worked with him on two presidential campaigns and one Senate campaign. He served in senior roles in the five presidential campaigns from 1980 to 1996.

Lacy served in the White House Political Office in 1982-83 and was director in 1985-86. As a private consultant he was principal strategist for campaigns including Fred Thompson’s 1994 election to the Senate that achieved the highest vote total of any Republican in Tennessee history.