Richard Lugar
Tufts President Lawrence S. Bacow awarded Richard Lugar an honorary degree during the University's 2004 Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 23, 2004.

[Biography | Honorary Degree]

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [05-23-04] As an advocate of strong national security, free trade, and economic growth, you seek to achieve a more peaceful and prosperous international community. Through legislation and diplomacy, you have made the world a safer place by reducing the threat of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons around the globe. At home, you have strengthened American society through thoughtful policies that spur economic growth.

Your career of public service stands as a model for us all. In the U.S. Senate, you serve as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and as a member and former chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. Together with former Senator Sam Nunn, you helped to dismantle and destroy nuclear weapons in the U.S. and the former Soviet Union through the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Your personal love of the land motivated you to build bipartisan support for federal farm program reforms, thereby helping to preserve an important American way of life.

In a city often divided by harsh partisan politics, you are admired on both sides of the aisle for your civility, intellect, and integrity – qualities that inspire trust and respect. Your constituents in Indiana have elected you to the Senate seat a record five times. For your unwavering commitment to the public good, Tufts University is proud to present to you the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.