Former AG Barr to present annual Reagan Lecture at Grove City College

Two-time U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr will visit Grove City College to deliver the 14th annual Ronald Reagan Lecture at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 in Ketler Auditorium of the Pew Fine Arts Center on campus.

The lecture series regularly features noted speakers with key connections to the nation’s 40th president. It is presented by The Institute for Faith & Freedom at Grove City College, a conservative think tank committed to the foundations of American liberty.

Barr will participate in a conversation with Grove City College President Paul J. McNulty, himself a former Deputy U.S. Attorney General, and Dr. Paul Kengor, professor of political science and senior director and chief academic fellow of the institute.

“This will be an exceptional evening with an exceptional and very courageous individual. Most people probably don’t realize that the first president Bill Barr served in the administration of was indeed President Ronald Reagan,” Kengor said. “Beyond that, he has a fascinating background that spans his career from Columbia University to the CIA and to the Reagan and each Bush administration culminating with his service to our nation as President Donald Trump’s attorney general. This public servant has seen quite a lot – and was often at the center of it.”

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are limited, and registration is required. To register, visit faithandfreedom.com. Registration deadline is Feb. 1.

Barr was Deputy Assistant Director for Legal Policy for the Reagan administration from 1982 to ’83. After that White House service, Barr was Attorney General from 1991 to ’93 under President George H.W. Bush, and again from 2019 to ’20 under President Donald J. Trump.

After earning degrees in government and Chinese studies from Columbia University, Barr worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1973 to ’77 while earning his law degree from George Washington University Law School.

Under President Bush, Barr served as the deputy attorney general from 1990 to ’91 and assistant attorney general of the office of legal counsel from ’89 to ’90 before becoming the 77th Attorney General of the United States. During that tenure, Barr helped create programs and strategies to reduce violent crime and was responsible for establishing new enforcement policies in several areas including financial institutions, civil rights, and antitrust merger guidelines. Barr also led the Department’s response to the savings and loan crisis, oversaw the investigation of the Pan Am 103 bombing, directed the successful response to the Talladega prison uprising and hostage taking, and coordinated counter-terrorism activities during the First Gulf War.

After being nominated by President Trump, Barr was confirmed as the 85th Attorney General of the United States by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 14, 2019. Barr and John Crittenden (1841 and 1850-1853) are the only two people in U.S. history to serve twice as Attorney General.