For Immediate Release, September 14, 2012
Contact: Allison Sturma, 202-429-4725

(Washington) -  This afternoon Congressman Jim Marshall (2003-2011) was sworn in as the fourth president of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). As president, Marshall will oversee the next phase of development for the Institute’s conflict management work and professional training programs.

In his first speech as president of the Institute, Marshall stressed the importance of peace not only for the United States, but the world.  He included a quote President Dwight D. Eisenhower made in April 1953.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. [...] This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

Marshall served four terms in Congress, from 2003 to 2011, where he built and maintained strong bipartisan relationships. He served on the Armed Services, Agriculture, and Financial Services Committees. He also chaired the Air Force Caucus, the Financial Markets Caucus, and the Balanced Budget Caucus, as well as West Point’s Board of Visitors. As mayor of Macon, Marshall managed 17 departments, two airports, and 1,300-plus employees from 1995 to 1999. During that time, he was elected to the Advisory Board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and co-chaired the National Conference of Democratic Mayors.

The afternoon ceremony also recognized the accomplishments of Richard Solomon who served as president for 19 years. Board of Directors Chairman J.  Robinson  West recognized that the Institute today is “the house that Solomon built” – a reference to both the USIP headquarters building on the National Mall and the development of the Institute as the nation’s global conflict management center.

“The Institute of Peace has a bright future in what is still, tragically a violent and conflicted world,” Solomon stated, highlighting the innovation work of the Institute in his remarks to the Institute staff, colleagues, and friends.

All four USIP presidents were in attendance. Previous presidents Robert F. Turner and Ambassador Samuel W. Lewis  were on hand to witness Solomon symbolically pass his USIP pin to Marshall as the new leader of the Institute.

###