Bill Richardson: America's Role in the World: from North Korea to Immigration

Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, will talk to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council over dinner on Thursday October 24th about “America’s role in the world – from Immigration to North Korea”.  During his long career in government and in the private sector, Governor Richardson has traveled to a long list of countries that don’t rank highly on most Americans’ itineraries: Iraq, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Cuba, Sudan,Afghanistan, Nicaragua and North Korea. He has a seasoned understanding of how the US is seen around the world, and how it can deal with some of its more difficult international challenges.

Governor Richardson comes to the Council at a time when theUS is – again – debating the extent of its international engagement. As a former US Ambassador to the United Nations, and then Energy Secretary, Richardson was right at the center of the debate about when the US should intervene internationally during the Clinton administration, often in times of high international tension. He also personally negotiated the release of Americans held in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Bangladesh and North Korea. He began visiting North Korea in the early 1990’s, and has made a number of trips there since, most recently in January of this year when he led a group of US businessmen including Google chairman Erich Schmidt.

Born in Pasadena, California, to an American father and a Mexican mother, Richardson was brought up in Mexico City until he was 13, giving him a special understanding of how the immigration debate underpins US-Mexican relations. As governor of New Mexico he had to deal with the immigration issue on a daily basis, and he has made repeated calls for Congress and the White House to find a solution to the current impasse on illegal immigrants. A graduate of Tufts University, Richardson was a congressman from New Mexico for 14 years before joining the Clinton administration in 1997.

To Purchase Tickets:

http://www.lawac.org/Default.aspx?tabid=103&eventid=1186

or call (424) 258-6160

TicketPrice

Member$75.00

Guest of Member$85.00

Non-Member$100.00