Though his decades of public service frequently placed him on the national and international stage, the late Sen. Richard Lugar ’54 was not one to seek the limelight.
Lugar, a Denison trustee, Rhodes Scholar, and six-term senator from Indiana, received several honors for his leadership on issues such as nuclear nonproliferation, global food insecurity, and bipartisan governance.
He was humbled but not motivated by such recognition.
“My dad was always a dedicated public servant first and foremost and never really sought these accolades,” John Lugar says.
Two of the honors that Richard Lugar most appreciated now are displayed at Denison, a place that remained close to his heart until his death in 2019.
Hanging on the fifth floor of Burton D. Morgan in the Admission Welcome Center is Lugar’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to him in 2013 by President Barack Obama, and the regalia marking him a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, presented by Queen Elizabeth II in what became known in Lugar family shorthand as “the knighting award.”
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Medal
Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Badge
“These were the ones that he talked about the most,” John Lugar says. “He preferred for them to go to Denison.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor.
During his long run as a U.S. senator, Lugar was known to reach across the political aisle to tackle some of the most complicated and important problems facing the nation and world, such as the global dismantling of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
Lugar co-sponsored the Nunn-Lugar Act with Georgia Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, and by the time Lugar left office, the program had resulted in the deactivation of 7,600 Soviet nuclear warheads, the destruction of 900 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the removal of all nuclear weapons from the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus.
“Dick Lugar never compromised his principles in anything we did together, nor did I,” Nunn once said. “We found ways to work together because we examined the facts and let the facts have a bearing on the conclusions, and I’m afraid in today’s political world too often people start with the conclusions and then hunt facts to justify them.”
Lugar credited Denison with laying the foundation for this style of governance and teaching him the importance of intellectual humility.
“That was in his DNA, and it’s in Denison’s DNA,” says Raj Bellani, Denison’s vice president and chief of staff. “It’s all about connecting with one another and building strong, deep relationships.”
Born in Indianapolis in 1932, Lugar was an Eagle Scout and graduated at the top of his classes at both Indianapolis Shortridge High School and Denison. At Denison, he played cello and was the student body co-president with his future wife, Charlene.
“My dad had an abiding love for Denison,” John Lugar says.
Other memorabilia and items were given to Denison’s politics and public affairs department. At Denison, the Lugar Program has helped launch interested students into lives of public service since 1996, and the Lugar Lecture Series has brought world-renowned speakers to The Hill for 20 years.
Looking back on the many eulogies for his father, John Lugar says one word that stood out was spoken by former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels: pure.
“You can’t say that often about a person in this day and age,” John Lugar says. “That was the highest compliment, and that’s what he was.”
Lugar enjoyed the academic rigor and deep relationships of Denison. He also discovered the wisdom of intellectual disagreements marked by civility, not bombast.
“Those are the sort of tools that Denison provided him, that he took to his Rhodes Scholarship,” his son says.
In discussions about gifting the Presidential Medal of Freedom and knighting award to Denison, Lugar and his family agreed that the memorabilia might serve as inspiration for generations of Denisonians.
True to form, Richard Lugar saw the medals not as a means for new students to remember him and his accomplishments, but to look inward and wonder what they, too, might accomplish.
“That was the idea at the end of the day,” John Lugar says. “This is what Denisonians can do. They can go out and change the world.”