MOUNT VERNON -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Bob Woodward will deliver Cornell College's inaugural Delta Phi Rho Lecture on Thursday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in King Chapel. Admission is free.
The lecture, "Bush at War," is also the title of Woodward's best-selling 2002 book, which examines the Bush administration's actions in the 100 days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Woodward will sign books at a reception in Cole Library following the lecture.
Woodward is an assistant managing editor of the Washington Post, where he has worked for 33 years. He was the lead reporter for the Post's Pulitzer-winning articles on the aftermath of 9/11. "Bush at War" focuses on the three months following the terrorist attacks, during which the United States prepared for war in Afghanistan, took steps toward deploying forces in Iraq, intensified homeland defense and began a well-funded CIA covert war against terrorism around the world. Using inside access to the major players, Woodward offers a nearly day-by-day account of the decision-making processes and power battles behind the headlines.
The Post received the Pulitzer in 1973 for reporting by Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the Watergate scandal, which became the best-selling "All the President's Men." Woodward has co-authored or authored more No. 1 national best-selling nonfiction works than any other contemporary American writer, including three additional books on the presidency ("The Final Days," "The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House" and " Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate").
His other No. 1 national best sellers are "The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court," "Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi," "Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987" and "The Commanders," on the first Bush administration and the Gulf War. Woodward is also author of national best sellers on the presidential campaign, "The Choice," and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, "Maestro."
Woodward graduated from Yale University and served five years as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy before beginning his journalism career at the Montgomery County (Md.) Sentinel, where he was a reporter for one year before joining the Post.
The lecture is funded by the Delta Phi Rho Centennial Endowment. In anticipation of the 1998 Delt Centennial, a group of early 1960s Delt alumni conceived of the endowment to finance a major lecture series on campus. After committing $150,000 themselves, the group single-handedly campaigned to raise a total of $400,000 from Delt alumni. The purpose of the endowment is to contribute to the intellectual capital of the college and the community by bringing to campus, approximately every other year, a nationally prominent figure to interpret current issues and encourage student and faculty involvement in public affairs.
