Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.)
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Retired Trustee
TERM AS TRUSTEE:
March 24, 1982 through June 2018
BIOGRAPHY:
Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.), was one of the nation’s preeminent authorities on international policy. He was also President of The Scowcroft Group, Inc., an international business advisory firm.
Brent Scowcroft served as the National Security Advisor to both Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, the only individual in U.S. history appointed to the position under two different Presidents. From 1982 to 1989, he was Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.
His extraordinary twenty-nine-year military career began with graduation from West Point and concluded at the rank of Lieutenant General following service as the Deputy National Security Advisor. His Air Force service included Professor of Russian History at West Point; Assistant Air Attaché in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Head of the Political Science Department at the Air Force Academy; Air Force Long Range Plans; Office of the Secretary of Defense International Security Assistance; Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Military Assistant to President Nixon.
General Scowcroft served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. He was a member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Board and the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board. He was recognized as a Distinguished Graduate of West Point, and earned his masters and doctorate in international relations from Columbia University.
In 1991, General Scowcroft was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President George H.W. Bush, and in 1993 was awarded an honorary knighthood – a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) – by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2009, he was presented the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
General Scowcroft passed away August 6, 2020 at his home in Falls Church, Virginia at the age of 95. Brent was a dear friend and trusted colleague of President Gerald Ford and had been on the Board of Trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation since 1982. Throughout his extraordinary public service career, General Scowcroft, demonstrated the personal and professional qualities of integrity, strength of character, diligence, patriotism, and sound judgment.
FOUNDATION REMARKS:
Remarks at 2012 William E. Simon Lecture on Public Affairs
(remarks begin at 21:10 of video)
January 19, 1977. President Gerald R. Ford awards the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal to Brent Scowcroft in the Oval Office. (Photo Courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library)
