Former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft was inducted into the Hinckley Institute of Politics Hall of Fame on Thursday.
The event drew a standing-room-only crowd and included speeches by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.; former U.S. Rep. James Hansen; former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn; and Scowcroft’s close personal friend Gen. Joe Jordan and grandnephew Jim Hinckley.
Each guest recounted some of their personal experiences with Scowcroft over the years. Guests talked about his modesty, his love of service and country, the effect he’d had on the world and the wide range of achievements in his life.
Huntsman called Scowcroft one of the most expansive global thinkers of our time and noted the pivotal role he played in bringing about the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. He said the length of Scowcroft’s time in public service and the number of senior roles in government he had played during that time was unprecedented.
“Following his service, General Scowcroft handed over a country with more stature, respect and leverage than our nation had ever seen in its history,” Huntsman said.
Scowcroft was born and raised in Ogden. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and earned a master’s degree and a doctorate degree from Columbia University before embarking on a distinguished military and diplomatic career.
He served as a military adviser to President Richard Nixon and as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, who presented him with the Medal of Freedom Award in 1991.
After his induction, Scowcroft said that although it had been 65 years since he’d lived in Utah, he still felt as though he’d never left.
“Utah gave me something,” he said. “There was a spirit about it that made you want to do your best and made you want to do it right.”
Scowcroft said the Hinckley Institute has an increasingly vital role to play in the country, where politics have become so bitter and partisan that it is difficult to deal with mounting problems in the world.
“The Hinckley Institute is the kind of thing we need now for young people to learn how to think, to learn how to reason and apply it to the problems of the real world,” he said.
Hinckley Institute director Kirk Jowers said the decision by the board to induct Scowcroft this year was unanimous.
“He has been incredibly generous with his time and talents to students of the University of Utah and certainly the Hinckley Institute,” Jowers said. “We are proud to claim him as a native son.”
Scowcroft is the ninth person inducted into the Hinckley Institute Hall of Fame in the past 44 years. Other members include former Utah Govs. Olene Walker, Norman Bangerter, Scott Matheson and Calvin Rampton, former Sens. Frank Moss and Wallace Bennett and former Congressmen James Hansen and Wayne Owens.
Tyler CobbLt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft is congratulated by Gov. Jon Huntsman during a ceremony to induct Scowcroft into the Hinckley Institute of Politics Hall of Fame. Scowcroft, a native of Ogden, served as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.