Let me welcome you here. Not only to have this distinguished group, chuck and linda, long time active members of the community who have served the commonwealth tremendously. It is great to have kingsley here. 25 years of service to george mason. We appreciate the impact youve had. It is truly great to have everyone here. Lets get on with the show. [applause] host for those of you who do not know Kingsley Haynes, he served as the founding dean of these school of Public Policy. As an aside, we also patriot justht to susan haynes, pay tribute tonightto susan haynes as an aside, we also pay tribute to susan haynes. [applause] the faculty established and generously funded a lecture series in his name. In keeping with past events, we have invited to individuals who have also demonstrated a dip commitment deep commitment to public service. Robb was governor of virginia and served two terms in the u. S. Senate. Lyndaknown for marrying daughter of, the Lyndon Baines johnson and lady bird johnson. Some of you may remember their white house wedding, one of eight ever held there. Tonight, they have a conversation with brian lamb. May surprise you is they served together along with the former George Mason University martin as aids in the Johnson White house. Whitees in the johnson house. As the founder of cspan, today, brian is known for bringing the u. S. House of representatives and the United States senate into our living rooms in addition to his over 800 interviews with world and opinion leaders. It is my pleasure to turn things for theirian conversation about their distinction lives of celebrity commonwealth and the nation. Celebrating the commonwealth and the nation. [applause] i like to go back to 1960 6, 1967, and asked the two 1966, 1967, and asked the two of you when it really started. [laughter] charles robb we have a difference of opinion as to when we met each other. Lynda have a say. Lynda robb i dont think thats very interesting. [laughter] brian lamb it was love at first sight wasnt love at first sight. [laughter] lynda robb apparently not. [laughter] i told him already that when we get the golden day, ogitiate my contract. [laughter] charles robb i will ask you to handle that, george. Brian lamb pick up your microphone. Lynda robb i told him that ticket up and keep it on i brian lamb this was a very inadequate answer. [laughter] brian lamb your life does not like this question. Wife does not like this question. When did it start . Lynda robb each met th charles robb we each met each other on our own turf. On my turf iny washington dc. Lynda robb but i was seeing something else. [laughter] linda probably first for Members Meeting me over at her house. Neither of us are absolutely certain when that started. Were just glad that after 48 years we are going for the gold. Brian lamb you will be married 2017. Years in december lynda robb you want to talk about your participation that . Me, he said, i want you to tell a story, that not everybody has heard. He is telling me that ive talked about this a lot, in other words, and therefore try and think of something that i havent already told everybody about. So, i want to get my heavy lifting out. Aid. Young man was a social they were in the military, and they had to be single. Wanted them to be able to dance. They had high qualifications. Chuck was in the marines. There were two marines. Other year, weve had lunches with the social aides who were there. Every time, it centers around one event. This is when Princess Margaret came. [laughter] charles robb chuck wa lynda robb chuck was not there. There . Ou charles robb no. Lynda robb youll have to wait until i have another lecture. But charles was good at getting the software start. Off to a start. He was good at getting interviews with the press. Is that right . It was not official. I was in the pentagon. Charles robb i did ask brian if he would escort lyndas mother. Lynda robb getting her down was a big deal. Charles robb it was. Lynda robb let me tell you what he did for us. This is a story i havent told, me. E you counchallenged charles robb im nervous at this point. [laughter] lynda robb he wanted a story not everyone has heard. I dont think many people have heard the story at all. Withinefore the wedding, hadlast few months, brian an uncle who had a very nice mesa nearby. He invited some of the social aides, some of the younger military people, people in the white house, and the theme was everyone come as your favorite lovers. Being such wonderful lovers came i came, guess who, i as kate, kiss me kate from taming of the shrew. [laughter] lynda robb he was wonderful. Types and all. Tights and all. Charles robb there are no pictures. Lynda robb thats not true. [laughter] lynda robb there are loads of pictures. Charles robb available. [laughter] charles robb he took the easy blackt containecand came as old magic. He did not bring a date. Frankie and johnny were there. , and weharlie brown actually had lucy, i dont think we had a redhead girl. The truth is those two people got married. It was wonderful. People who several met in the white house who got married, which was nice. Brian was not one of them. Hes one of those people who was hard to catch. Costumes. Derful this started to traditions two traditions. One, we celebrated our anniversary, december 9, for all the big years. Mythe 25th year, i wore personal dinner dress rehearsal dinner dress. I was very proud i could get into it. We would show the wedding movie every year. Finally, i could never get him to come, i dont know why brian didnt want to come, i got several people to come, and to couples who came and that marrying the person they brought. Brian lamb i married your interior designer. Lynda robb you took a long time. [laughter] lynda robb you dont get any credit. Had wonderfulve costume parties. I dont know. I think he just set the right tone. Tradition. Eat, great i appreciate you introducing us. So many fun people who dressed made the party special. Now, ive told my story no one else has turned. Told. Lets move to a moreb serious topic. Married,er you got vietnam. How did that unfold . I knew you knew you would have to go to vietnam while you were in the white house. Ive beenbb requesting overseas expeditionary duty for years. I always got much more time than i asked for. I would doubt that there is anybody during the. Of the decade that i served in the marine corps that had as many good assignments as i did. Some nice things happened, and each thing seem to influence seemed to influence the next. The marines gave me better assignments. Should go back a little bit. My first assignment after quantico as i was on the north hampton. Ship on very secret which the president of the United States was prepared to fight a nuclear war. We had then, president kennedy, and the joint chiefs and the senior and ranking members of the Armed Services and intelligence committee, they all came out and spent two days at sea with us. On the second day, in the morning, all the available ships, and i think every ship that was not in dry dock that was deemed to be available on 81 manofwary had starting with the carriers and the cruisers and the battleships and the rail while we steamed up the middle and exchanged honors from both sides. It is the only time it happened magnitude, it hasnt happened in the 21st century. It was a pretty good way to start your regular activeduty. A series of good assignments after that. I kept asking for expeditionary duty. Vietnam came along, and i asked the westpac banner. I still did not have orders, but , there were aaged lot of people who said it you dont have to go, your service is complete. I said you dont have to understand, some nice things happened at quantico. I wouldnt be able to live with myself if so many of my friends who had gone over and not come back, it was for me a moral obligation, when i believed in. One i very much believed in. Aen i got engaged, i kept secret for a month. Can you believe that . Parents, theare white house social secretary, and my Commanding Officer. For a whole month, they kept it a secret until we announced. Once it was announced, there were people who said we dont have to do this. Want to go. It was important to me not only to go, but if there are any other marines in the group, you know that being an entry officer, an officer to the commander of an Infantry Company , it is the ultimate ambition. I was very fortunate, because the commanding general of the secondary position, i knew most of the generals. I didnt know my contemporaries, but i knew the generals. Myn i got to vietnam, Commanding Officer was don robertson, with whom i played golf. He was a Brigadier General with one star. Pleased, because i ew i would not gets firstraped off with the assignment. At that point, i would knew id get my Infantry Company and have the experience i wanted to have. I know there are people who have strong feelings against the war and participation in it. Goale, it was a personal and something i would never have been able to live with myself if i had not done. To an extent, we are talking about the political process. Number of people who have filled intermediate Political Office who have, in a moment of candor, told me privately, i did not go to vietnam, and because i did not go, i dont think i can continue to my ultimate ambition in politics. These are people who have held statewide office. I was sort of their person who ss theirld confe secrets in this regard. The first assignment, other than the basic school at quantico i received, that i actually requested, i did not actually get until i was engaged in that was going to vietnam engaged. That was to go to vietnam. People tried to intervene, and i told them they dont understand. Brian lamb what was your reaction, lynda, when this was going on . How difficult was it being the daughter of a president and having him go over there . Lynda robb it was terrible. Anyone who is the wife, the Family Member of somebody in harms way is going to be scared. I was very proud of him. I knew what i was getting into. I knew he was going to go. It was a big decision of course, do you wait and get married when he comes back, do you try to have a child before he goes . , if the understanding that idthing were to happen, have the child, on the other hand, being 24 years old, with a baby, how difficult that would be. I knew what i was doing. I thought it was the right thing for him to do too. Charles robb she never asked me not to do it. , of havent had se, chuck went willingly. As a matter of fact, he wrote a letter, which he gave to liz carpenter, figuring that she would give it to the press. She was saying basically, if anything happens, if im everyone towant know that i came willingly and i do not want to be ransomed. I believe in what we are doing. He just put forth all this. On it, he said to be opened in the case of my death. Liz tells the story in one of her books. I did not know it. He didnt tell me. He wrote that out and left it so there would be no confusion could his desires confusion. His desires would be known. Theres also the question of whether he would be a burden. What if he was captured and the enemy would believe they had a bargaining tool . That other people worried about that too. Chuck said he wanted to be out, right there, and he did not want the press to know where exactly he was and did not invite a lot of interviews or press. And, as a matter of fact, he was very unhappy. When he went, he was finally after serving as the commander of a rifle company, he was commissioned as a major. He had to give up his rifle company. He threw a tantrum. I dont want to do that, i want my rifle company. Those were the complaints i heard. I want to stay here. He understood that other people deserve the opportunity, to also have that very important job. Be as reputed to a bounty to capture him. He was a marine, and the marines protect their own, and they made sure that things were going to be right. But, it was very scary. They wrote me letters, and there were times i did not hear for days. M for over 30 that was very nervous. It made me very nervous. I was pregnant. My parents were worried, just like all parents are, about their first granddaughter. My sister said that i was really a burden to my father, because, with me living there with him, and of course we got married, i moved in, we rented a house, turns out, i dont know if you are all from arlington, but it was Mary Margaret whipples house. Full circle. Everything goes around twice. It was, it was a very tough time. Dad said how hard it was on seeing me get more and more pregnant, knowing that i was a representative of lots and lots of other women who were going through the same thing. I joined a group called the waiting wives. These were the wives who had husbands in vietnam. Said, id like to, for my luncheon group, have them over. Over ase, we had very large number of people who accepted this luncheon, this event, and they came over, and the chef came to me and he said, we are going to have 300 pregnant women here . [laughter] aid no. Obb i si was captains to generals wives. It was all over the spectrum. It was very difficult. Any of you, there is one famous picture of daddy. He is in the cabinet room. He is in a shirt, no jacket on. There is a big recording machine next to him. Hes there like this, and hes tening to take from chuck tape form crom chuck. He tried not to tell me anything that would upset me. He told me about some things that were very upsetting, but this one tape i told dad about. Big mistake. He said, let me hear it. He wanted everybody to hear it. This picture is a picture of daddy listening to this tape, chuck talking. , it really was a story he didntt recognize, realize he be speaking to his commanderinchief, just his wife. The people that are over in the combat environment, youve got that in the infantry unit, it is all men. Youve got men who are mutually supporting each other in a difficult situation. Everyone bands together. Fighting aseally much or more for the individual on the right and on the left. The folks back home for a short. Of time. They know what is happening. We did not have the communications we have today. It would take a. Or threeeriod of two days. You would just put your message and address where a state would go stamp would go. It was hard never knowing when ,ou might get a phone call harder than being over there knowing exactly what you were confronting. Lynda robb we did at least one time i know get a phone call, saying my son is in captain robbs unit. Snd that captain robb wa killed. Z didnt want to tell the story. They checked it out and found it was not a true story. Somehow, it got confused. There were scary things like that. Whether you like it or not, i probably would have hurt quicker than most wives or mothers would have heard if something happened to chuck. My mail did not get here quicker. You can be sure of that. I was very proud of him. He came home on his titers sixmonth birthday having never seen her before. You can imagine the expression after a strange man is addressed in front of her and she is supposed to react. She said, mama what are you doing to me at this point . Brian lamb do we get our hands on those tapes . Lynda robb no way. Ken burnscharles robb has been trying to get his hands on those tapes. The photograph was taken. It was not published until two or three years later. It now is probably as iconic as any photo. Burns has been looking for it and we havent been able to find it. If you found it, it would just be me saying, what do you want to name the baby . Brian lamb i have to tell you a story. Married and you went gotietnam, a bunch of aides together for dinner and wrote down on a piece of paper what we thought would happen to the two of you. I thought youd run for house of representatives. You fooled everybody. You ran for Lieutenant Governor of the state of virginia. Go back to that decision. How hard was that . This is between the two of us, either going to law school and giving into politics, ive got more to say on that in a moment. A naturalt of evolution at this point, and i only wanted to run for Lieutenant Governor so i could run for governor. Was a that that legitimate way to get some thing i wanted. That is the only job i thoroughly enjoyed. I got a great deal of satisfaction from it. It was based on my own experience. Ive beenasked why going into politics, and lynda said she never wanted to marry a politican. Politician. There were things that put me in front of regular audiences on a regular basis to work on issues, and after a while, you get a sense of confidence that you can deal reasonably, effectively with whatever issue is presented. You Start Talking to more audiences and it becomes easy. If you get the clinical process, you can actually exert influence on events that are important in , in my case to the commonwealth of virginia, and ultimately to the nation. You can even Impact International policy from time to time. That is something i did not start out. I was a president of the high school class. Senatelected to student in college. I ran for senior class president and loss. It was the best thing i ever happened best thing that ever happened to me. That was really a popularity contest. Getting into the state or federal or even being a local official, it is the toughest job. Official greeter tonight was in local politics for a long period time. Everyone knows you and expected to be able to respond directly to the old provide an answer. Ithin two days you go crazy with thousands of requests. For me, it was a natural evolution, getting some feedback. Youre having a very easy time as moderator. She directs most of my life. In conjunction with an assignment i had after i came i wasrom vietnam, assigned as head of the principal officer recruiting program for the marine corps. One of my duties was to go around and make speeches on college campuses. I did a fair amount of that. I also ministered the program administered the program. One of the colleges decided they were going to be able to have a demonstration against me. They had all the antiwar paraphernalia, all the signs. It was as big as any rally is. It was a big event for the folks participating. Im not sure they were all true believers. Some of them are interested in being a part of what everybody else is doing. They had all the masks on, the slogans and whatever. I decided, at this point, i was a major in the marine corps. Blues whenyour dress you go out to speak to the group, and i decided to walk on the stage without an introduction, without anything else, and just start off. I will let them come out me and return fire as best i can. At one point, i got them to laugh. After an audience laughs, the you, they cant hate you anymore. After that speech, and that getting a standing ovation. It was put on the front page of the philadelphia inquirer. It was put in the new summary for president nixon, who sent me i about, two days later, received a pale green stationery that you know is actually the president s. Congratulations for getting a standing ovation. Defending the war, at least being able to stand up and talk about it, it was an interesting expense. Experience. How difficult was it changing your mind and getting back into politics . Charles robb you said you never wanted to marry a politician. Lynda robb when you are the member of the family who is in ofitics when your member the family is in politics, you lose your identity, your freedom to be your own person. People feel they own you. Them, and youre supposed to do what they want you to do. I had a funny thing happened in the last two or three days. I got this, im sure several of you have, people call and ask for money. [laughter] lynda robb all the women running talk to me. Many of the men. When somebody actually calls you and asks you, i know how hard that is. It is hard not to send them something, just because theyve had the fortitude to actually make that ask. A friend of chuck, someone he in harvard, he came to see us. His wife said id like to talk to you about being a political life. Isaid id have to tell you was never going to marry anyone spentitics, because ive the first 35 years of my life in politics 25 years of my life in politics. My gradeschool years were part of public knowledge. Charles robb she was not as larger. She was phi beta kappa. Lynda robb she was really boring i was really boring. I didnt really do anything. Was dont do anything you dont want to see on the front page of the new york times. That eliminates just about everything. [laughter] girlsrobb asked the bush ask the bush girls. Its really tough. I forgot the question now. [laughter] brian lamb when you made the decision, in the end lynda robb he wanted to do it so much. I am not the only spouse who has ever followed, who has called along with what their spouse wanted to do. Somebody says theyve been offered a wonderful job in chicago, i want to move there. I think, i dont ever want to move there, and chicago, it is so cold. No, when they say for better or for worse, that is what they meant. Think, he hard, i even gave me the, i wont run if you dont want me to. You carry around that burden. If it was not sipping important to him, it was something important to him, and he would not support him. Him. You would not support for me just to say, oh no, im it,ng to stay home and kn and you go off. Charles robb you prefer knitting . Lynda robb they understand. [laughter] lynda robb some of you campaigned with us. I got this one call from this woman. She said, have you got what i sent . I said no. The one who had wanted to talk to me about her husband going into politics, i said, just get back to me, send me something. I started immediately talking. You will never guess. I went on and on for two minutes on how tough it was to be a political wife. The woman said, i think you have me confused with someone. Im running for office. [laughter] lynda robb i had no choice. I didnt know this would happen, but i think i had my last interview with your mother, and when i did interview. Johnson, pastor i asked her a question i always wanted to know. Ovaladio station ran every Office Speech your husband had recorded. Question was, did you know your husband was taping . She told me she did not know. Lynda robb of course she didnt. He did not know. Do you think he would have let the machine be on when he was telling some of the stories about his clothing problems . If nothing else, here you have mother, my favorite of all of them. Mother. Them, onee of all of of the case, daddy asks how you asks, how do you think i did in the speech . He thought she was the smartest person he ever knew and had the best judgement. She says, well, linden, you should have talked a little slower. I think, maybe, then she went on, and she said, i didnt say it was about a b. Hmm. Ar him saying, oh, she just critiqued them. Him. I dont think she wanted necessarily for everyone to hear the tape. The truth of the matter is that he said he did not give the tape to the library, he gave everything he had, including the letters i wrote to him in the letters to quote him from vietnam, everything to the library. He did not go through and pick and choose and take the stuff that made him look good. At what i would have done. We just had a big thing at the library with the cia and we went through all of the cia things from daddys years. I was just going to say that they released all of s briefs, butent most people would never even have read it, redacted before. Have lamb the question i is whether or not she critiqued you, governor, when you were governor and senator . She did, indeed, and she learned well from her mother. [laughter] was alwaysb it helpful to me in making a decision, particularly if i was going to use a script of any kind. Before i got started, she sort of felt that maybe i was going to get carried away. Nowould tell me, remember, dont you, dont you you dontson robb win any souls after the first 15 minutes. [laughter] charles robb but i was speaking get either a would little bit more obvious [laughter] and robb my motherson robb actually would send a pieces of paper up to my father. [laughter] Lynda Johnson robb they were quite a wonderful partnership. It was very interesting. Daddy said, he gave this to somebody he really trusted, and he basically said, i want you to keep these and when i die, i want you to give them to the library with the understanding that they will not be released until 50 years after i die. And daddy died and she gave them to the library. Then the congress, in its wisdom, decided to go through the kennedy assassination one more time, and this is what, the 80s . And daddy had talked about what was on the tapes. Director of the library thought that legally, he had to make those available. And then once you have broken that rule, broken that, he then that we should he recommended that we should open them up. And he went to my mother, now, i legally, whether she had that right to break his 50 year rule, but the two of them did it, but i was against it only because i want people to give things to the library and if they want to restrict them, you have shown others that they did not follow through and it might make people think twice. It. Was against but they did it. That think you would say by and large, it has made daddy look better by having these tapes available. He really see what said because what you mostly get is things that you are hedging your bets on and to hear him speak and just to understand how he felt about some things, i think it has been a very good and they have done an admirable job of trying to still in the background, so if somebody is not familiar with everything that is going on, he has tried to do that. It is something that we have. You know, it was a crapshoot. We did not know what was going to be in those tapes because when youre on the telephone, i remember one time i was at ncs, and i have a sister who was three years younger and she was a brat at times, and i called my mother and i was complaining and i said, lets just kill her. And that over the phone i heard the president of the ncs say, dont you ever say that [laughter] Lynda Johnson robb so i understand you are not going to say anything on the phone if you are going to be taped. Imagine, just think of a many, many decisions just many of the many, decisions that the president would make in one day, on war and what is also going on in did i tell chalk that or did i tell one of my children that . So daddy knew that he could, particularly in those early days, a way where he could somehow go back and check who he told something to. You could hear him talking to dick russell, you could hear him talking about the war to dick russell, and you could see that he was very apprehensive. But the bottom line is, nothing that has taken hase since her father died taken place of the humanizing of him and some of those conversations, i would argue, was the old party view that somebody might be listening in, but people about a whole new human being under that cardboard figure that they had been watching and observing and who they think they had been listening to for a long time. I think it changed the ndas father. Ly i dont know of a single historian who would not agree with that and i dont know of a anyle historian of administration with subsequent tapes who would do that, and that is a real loss for historians not to have that additional, very personal insight into the kinds of things that somebody in that position has to take into consideration, and some indication of their passion and dealing with some of the most perplexing problems that the general public may not be aware of, and several layers down, these issues are being considered. Brian lamb let me ask you both, and you may not like this question, but we have brought the governor, a former governor and first lady of the state of virginia who were both prosecuted and convicted of crimes that had to do with money. You two were governor and first lady of virginia. As you set out and watched that process, what were you thinking . Not about the particular people, but what you saw in the process in the government and the relationship with the contingency . Charles robb well, i will say only that it was a very painful process for any of us, and there were circumstances that you could understand, but it was also painful for all of us of virginia, notwithstanding his terrible record on human rights and race relations. He did have a superb reputation for integrity and honesty in government, and to the extent was illuminated from the seating, it took a real hit for all of us who took pride in that. We were disappointed. Lynda johnson robb and i dont i say, i dont talk about it from a personal standpoint. I just think, particularly mrs. Mcdonald, was over her head. Umm i just felt such pain for all of them. Brian lamb what did the two of you do when i know that you have said in the past that your father would get very frustrated because everyone came at the same time and wanted something. You mean during the time i was governor . Brian lamb during the time you were in politics. Well, you do get an opportunity to listen to a number of historians, and a number of them are quite educational. Some of them help illuminate difficulties that you have thought about and identify a variety of things it could be useful. People makerving their way through the process. I think most people in public life, and this is not partisanship, i would say there on both sideseds for that matter, i think many are thinking they are making the best decision in the best interest of all parties. There are plenty of people who would disagree plenty with those decisions, what you have to tell and i had a, no, relationship for a period of time with some of my best friends who are either in legislation or had something i had to say or something that was not my way of thinking that was not in the best interest of the state or i legislation, i am not going to be any more specific than that, where one delegate was clearly going to benefit a friend of his in a Financial Way , and he was one of my very closest friends, and i vetoed the legislation. Fortunately, i had a Good Relationship with the general assembly, all of its superb members, and i think very few people in that process get credit for the skills and the perseverance and their dedication to what they do, and it is always characterized in ways that are more interesting, or humorous than real more humorous than real. Lets put it this way, in terms of reporting, nobody really wants to read about the 555 flights that have landed safely on any given day, they want to hear about the one that had a problem. And that is a natural phenomenon. So if a member of the legislation or some buddy else, and there are plenty of people in other categories, like some buddy who represents a business or a financial interest has a request, you have to be able to say, no. If you in your best judgment dont believe in what ever they are asking for is in the best interest of the people you represent, you dont make a big deal about it, youd just try to handle it as quietly as you can unnecessaryno situation where somebody goes away with their head down, but fromo have to say no time to time, and people will respect you for that. Many state for offices and people would come up and talk about other issues and some i didnt agree with but they would always say, which ever side you are on, whether you are on the more popular side or the much less popular side, stick to your gut. Followscious on it your conscious on it. I always felt best when i was making a speech are giving a vote that i knew was unpopular because everyone would initially understand that historically, they would come around to the position that i was taking, and strictly on some of the social issues, and then some others. That it is a tough vote for those of them who do the vote counting and what ever you know it is going to be, it is going to be a strike against you from some organization or from some of the hot button issues that are difficult. If a legislator or governor or president takes a position that they believe in good conscious is in the longterm best interests, and in many cases, they will know things that people are making the request wont, if they tell people what they or if they respond in a way that they think is reflecting the best interest of their elected that they serve, they will feel better about it, and eventually, more and more people will be supportive of that position. In publice same Thing Service anywhere. I think it works every time. Brian lamb well, that is it. We are out of time. I would like to thank lynda and chuck. Lynda johnson robb oh i have one more thing that goes along with this. [laughter] Lynda Johnson robb . I will be quick. Lynda johnson robb i will be quick. Brian lamb you will be quick. [laughter] Lynda Johnson robb one day we took a chartered flight and the night before, my father came and us, us that unbeknownst to the person we had chartered the flight from was going to be ght by a big charles robb government contractor. Lynda johnson robb government contractor. And it would not look good. And here we were ready to go on her honeymoon and nowhere to go and with no way to get there our honeymoon and nowhere to go with no way to get there. So we did not take that charter flight. So you can question the choices that people make, but i think we need to give our Public Servants more thanks for what they do which they think is best. Dont question their judgment on whether it is right or wrong or andher you agree or not, dont question whether they are doing it in a way to put money in their pockets or whatever. We dont know everything that may be that person does no is going on. Thank you. Charles robb let me just say one quick word because i meant to do it on the outset, and that is thanks to susan and jim you for an, thank exceptional 20 years as dean, and 25 years at mason, and i am delighted with all of my friends who were able to come out tonight and share with us. We havehnson robb many, many more friends [laughter] charles robb i thank all of you who came out tonight. [laughter] charles robb and saluting a Public Servant who is, indeed, worthy of the accolades that you bestow upon him, and i thank you deeply for your friendship and all of us look forward to your service. [applause] [indiscernible] [laughter] host thats great, well thank you for being with us. I want to thank chuck and lynda and brian for being with us. Ofwant to thank you for one masons own, hinckley haynes. Of service,rs kingsley retired last june, and tonight, we want to recognize that service. It is now my pleasure to introduce senator peterson from the 34th district of the commonwealth of virginia. Began his career in politics starting out on the Fairfax City Council for four years and for another four years at the Virginia House of delegates. The 34ththe voters of district elected him as their state senator. In 2007, they elected him as one of the 30 leaders of the law in virginia. Relationshipial with mason and with our school in particular. His father, the late john peterson, was a member of our faculty. We had very many wonderful politicals about discussions. We are honored that johns wife, mary, is with us tonight. Mary, thank you. [applause] host i would now like to call upon kingsley to start this joint session of the general assembly. Peterson thank you so much for being here. I was just at my sons back to. Chool night it is always great to be here robb. Huck not remembery this, it was one of the highlights of your presentation, ago, buts 14 years anyway, it is great to be here today to give this to kingsley, this, thisword about was one of the things that my father had a connection. Virginia politics for a while, whether i am knocking on doors or speaking at various civic associations, and grads. S run into spc immediately, i connect with people and i was at a mason dinner the other night and i spoke with a young man who has been 10 years in the United States marine corps, and he is , and he willad probably be running for my position and a couple of years, so ive got to be careful. [laughter] mr. Peterson but it is amazing how it has infiltrated the area and brought up a great, young leadership. I am grateful. Chuck, maybe i should have recused myself, but i did have a personal interest and i wanted to participate anyway and i was happy to be a sponsor, so kingsley, if you could come up or and while you are coming up here, i just want to say a personal thank you on behalf of my family. You know, when my father passed, it happens quite suddenly, and kingsley made a point of being there for my family physically, and i appreciate that. All right, thank you, sir. I am just going to read this briefly. ,hereas, Kingsley Edward haynes faculty chair at George Mason University, has served the younger men and women of the commonwealth for more than 40 whereas Kingsley Haynes earned a bachelors degree at western michigan university, a masters at rutgers, and also a phd. Heers updated participated in regional programs throughout the United States and where is often his expertise within the United States has been working within the department of health and commerce and Space Administration and department of defense and the National Science foundation, the department of transportation, whereas Kingsley Haynes has made academic pursuits and has inspired students and done policy analysis and Regional Economic development, and whereas, after joining at George Mason University as the dean of the school in 1990, he founded the school of Public Policy in 1992, and he helped the program grow from four faculty members to one of the nations top schools with 350 staff and whereas Kingsley Haynes start of the urban institute at the gill university, expanded the public and founded the lyndon b. School of Public Affairs at the university of texas i didnt even know that. [laughter] mr. Peterson he contracts more than 50 million and has coauthored over 10 books, and numerous articles and reports. Kingsley haynes serves on the Editorial Board for more than a dozen scholarly journals and was a Founding Member of the decision, risk, and management Science Panel of the National Science foundation. He has received countless awards and accolades for his impressive body of work. Herebyeral assembly commends Kingsley Haynes for his contribution to the commonwealth as an educator and school administrator. Congratulations. [applause] Kingsley Haynes you can tell that this is is a very important piece of this. I am really delighted to be here and i am happy to be here, i moved to Central Virginia and many of them are here and i appreciate that, for you coming all the way. I also want to know that one of them was a noted sunday school teacher, particularly of this young man here. At any rate, it is very exciting to be here, and i also have two cu of my old colleagues from texas who were kind enough to come and link up with the texans we have here, who are also virginians, and it is a wonderful combination. I also want to say that perhaps the most important thing is that thing fromn the contribution of my other half, and i really do mean that. My wife has been the Sole Proprietor of pushing things forward and has in the way of making good things happen to me and making them continue. I really do appreciate it and i probably dont say it enough and you get kind of blown up enough and you dont realize the person beside you is carrying a lot of the weight, so it is really, really important. The last thing i want to say is to recognize one person who has spent his time who has built the program with me. We have had really wonderful here and it would have been impossible to build the kind of program and have the kind of faculty to continue and to support and to continue the school is a units and to try to build it. It is just impossible to understand how important that is. But last and not least is Jim Finkelstein who sits over here and to say that he is one of my best right hands is an understatement. He has been very, very important. I trust his judgment as well is his knowledge and his detailed view of how to get things done and it has just been marvelous and i really do deeply appreciate that, so thank you all. Thank you very much. [applause] host thank you for presenting that and thank you, kingsley, and on behalf of all your colleagues and students, i want to offer my personal thanks for what you have done to mason for the last 25 years. You have made a truly remarkable school as dean of this truly Wonderful School that i now get to teach in and for all of the benefits to have the opportunity to work here. During your years as dean, i think it is fair to say that you have exceeded beyond anyones expectations, and you have faced some very considerable challenges in building an organization where we look forward to coming to work. We love working here. That is not very easy to do in the academic world, bringing people together and to work productively and constructively with each other, but we really did enjoy coming here. We respected kingsley so much and this was a place where faculty could focus on their students, their programs, building a school, i have been in many situations in the past at other universities where these things didnt happen, people didnt cooperate with each other. Infamousis famous or for the infighting that goes on, and i did not think it was possible to live this way. I came here with a 20 years career in 2004 and i found out that it is a possibility to treat each other with respect and to get the work done that makes for a really fine school and a really Great Program and the leadership of the school, of course, was so instrumental in making that happen. So i thank you, kingsley, personally, for bringing me to mason, which you did. I was somewhere else and i was not expecting that i would be moving from that place. And i was fine there but i got i call one day from jim surelstein had i wasnt about moving from where i had been, but you were both very, very convincing, and that is the best decision that i have ever made in my professional life, so i thank you for that. We conclude tonights program, and we have a nice reception across the hall to monitor Kingsley Haynes, and i thank you, all, for coming here tonight. Lank you, brian lamb, and robb andynda Johnson Charles robb for coming here tonight. Thank you. 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