ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. (Nov. 9, 2008)—Former U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis, who worked in the Clinton Administration during the critical Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David in 2000, will give a lecture entitled, "Europe and Israel: Awkward Historical Partners," at St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) on Monday, Nov. 10, at 4:30 p.m. in Cole Cinema at the Campus Center. Lewis will focus on the complexities of this challenging relationship and also talk about his experiences during the Camp David talks. The lecture is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy and is free and open to the public.
A graduate of Yale University and Johns Hopkins University, Lewis spent 31 years as a career diplomat. He was the first president and CEO of the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, and later served as director of the Department of State's Policy Planning Staff in the early years of the Clinton Administration.
Ambassador Lewis spent his Foreign Service career on tours of duty in Italy, Brazil, Afghanistan and Washington, as well as Israel. His senior posting was as ambassador to Israel for eight years under Presidents Carter and Reagan, from 1977 to 1985, a period that spanned negotiation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the 1982 war in Lebanon. He also held positions as assistant secretary of state for International Organization Affairs in the Department of State's Bureau of International Organization Affairs, senior staff member for Latin America at the National Security Council, special assistant to the deputy secretary of state, deputy director of the Policy Planning Staff under former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and as chargé d'affaires in Afghanistan.
Since retiring from the Foreign Service in 1985, Lewis has been affiliated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as counselor and senior advisor, the Brookings Institution, the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute, and with research centers at Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is now senior policy adviser to the Israel Policy Forum and serves on the boards of several organizations, including Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.