Bradley Prize recipient Edwin Meese III holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.  He is also chairman of Heritage's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Meese served as California Gov. Ronald Reagan's legal-affairs secretary from 1967 to 1968 and as his executive assistant and chief of staff from 1969 to 1974.  Prior to joining Reagan's staff, he was deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California.

From 1977 to 1981, Meese was a professor of law at the University of San Diego, where he was also director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.  From 1981 to 1985, he served as counselor to President Reagan.  As the 75th Attorney General of the United States from 1985 to 1988, he led international efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime.  He also served as chairman of the White House Domestic Policy Council and the National Drug Policy Board.

In 1985, Meese received Government Executive magazine's annual award for excellence in management.  From 1998 to 2004, he was chairman of the governing board of George Mason University.  He was also elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.  He is a member of the Critical Incident Analysis Group.  Previously, he served on the Iraq Study Group and the National War Powers Commission.

Meese is the author of With Reagan:  The Inside Story.  He is also co-editor of Making America Safer:  What Citizens and Their State and Local Officials Can Do to Combat Crime and co-author of Leadership, Ethics and Policing:  Challenges for the 21st Century.

Meese is a graduate of Yale University and holds a law degree from the University of California-Berkeley.

 

 

Edwin Meese III's Acceptance Remarks