Former United States Senator Phil Gramm, who became the only member of Congress in the 20th century to resign from office and seek re-election as a member of another political party, will visit the Marian Miner Cook Auditorium on Tuesday, Sept. 14. His lecture begins at 6:45 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Senator Gramm's lecture is sponsored by The Pacesetters Fellowship, a program sponsored by CMC alumni from the classes of 1948, 1949, and 1950, to bring leaders in business, academia, and public affairs to Claremont McKenna for interaction with students. He will also address members of the College's Res Publica Society at a luncheon in Orange County.
Gramm, who won the House election as a Democrat and later joined the Republican party, is expected to deliver a behind-the-scenes look into what drives or stalls the economywith particular insight into the impact of current events and politics. He was a relentless opponent of big government during his 18 years (1984-2002) in the Senate, championing a balanced federal budget, tax relief, and a responsible overhaul of health care.
The Gramm legislative record includes such landmark bills as the Gramm-Latta Budgets that reduced federal spending, rebuilt national defense, and mandated the Reagan tax cut. As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Gramm also led the successful effort to restore a Republican majority in the Senate in 1994.
Since retiring from the Senate, Gramm, who holds a Ph.D. in economics and is a former economics professor at Texas A&M, has become a vice chairman and an investment banker for UBS Investment Bank, one of the largest financial services firms in the world. He is widely renowned for his contributions to fiscal policy and his understanding of global trends in the financial markets.