Ted Kennedy advisor to speak in New Ross
BOB SHRUM WILL BE A KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT KENNEDY SCHOOL
A key political advisor will be one of the keynote speakers at this year’s Kennedy Summer School
Bob Shrum who has been central to many US presidential campaigns will reflect on his involvement in Edward Kennedy’s 1980 presidential election campaign and his life as a senior Democratic political strategist over five decades.
Shrum is now the Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California, where he is a Professor of the Practice of Political Science in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
He is a former political strategist and consultant who served as senior advisor to the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign and to the Gore-Lieberman 2000 campaign. ‘ The Atlantic Monthly’ described him as ‘ the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party’.
Shrum served as speechwriter to New York Mayor John V. Lindsay from 1970 to 1971, speechwriter to Sen. George McGovern’s 1972 Presidential campaign and speechwriter and press secretary to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from 1980 to 1984 and as a political consultant until 2009.
Internationally, Bob was a senior adviser to the campaign of Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and to the British Labour Party in the 2001 Parliamentary campaign. His book, ‘No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner’, was published in June 2007 by Simon and Schuster.
At noon on Saturday, September 9 Bob Shrum will take to the podium in New Ross for a talk titled, ‘ The Causes That Endure’. In this audio-visually illustrated public interview with Dr. Brian Murphy, Robert M Shrum will discuss the Edward Kennedy’s 1980 Presidential election campaign and offer insights to his life as a veteran campaign strategist.
The 2017 Summer School will discuss topical issues in Irish and U.S. politics with expert speakers from both sides of the Atlantic. More than 35 guest speakers have been lined up to participate on a wide range of different subjects and organisers say that Brexit and Ireland’s relationship with the U.S. will feature prominently. The summer school have also gathered a panel of leading historians to assess the legacy of President John F. Kennedy, 100 years on from his birth.
There will be a series of public interviews including an audience with RTE U.S. correspondent, Caitriona Perry, a keynote by the speech writer for Barack Obama Cody Kennan along with a host of panelists. Ian Paisley Jnr MP, RTE Europe Editor Tony Connelly, Regina Doherty TD (Fine Gael), Mary Lou McDonald TD (Sinn Féin), Joan Burton TD (Labour) and Lisa Chambers TD (Fianna Fail), Niall Breslin, Celebrity Chef Kevin Dundon, Judge of The Great Irish Bake Off and Chef Paul Kelly, Ryan Tubridy and many more will all partake in the 2017 Kennedy Summer School.
The Kennedy Summer School takes place from Friday, September 7 to Sunday, September 9. Tickets are now on sale from kennedysummerschool.ie and St Michael’s Theatre in New Ross on 051 421255.