Professor James Q. Wilson, chair of the Board of Governors of CMC's Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World, has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Considered the nation's highest civilian honor, he was presented the award July 23 by President Bush in a White House ceremony. The Medal of Freedom was awarded to 11 distinguished leaders in arts, sports, politics, science, and business.
President Bush referred to Dr. Wilson as "the most influential political scientist in America since the White House was home to President Woodrow Wilson." Author of 14 books, most recently The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families (Harper Collins, 2002), Wilson's social commentary examines the nature of morality, government, and criminal justice. Currently the endowed Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, Wilson has held professorships at both Harvard and UCLA.
He has chaired the Salvatori Center Board of Governors for seven years. Founded in 1969, the Salvatori Center is the oldest of CMC's research institutes. It examines questions of political philosophy as they bear on the life of contemporary America. The center's conferences, lectures, and publications draw attention to the relation between freedom and virtue, liberty and law, political philosophy and political practice.