A Gala for Liberty
25th Anniversary Gala Reception and Dinner
November 15, 2011
San Francisco, CA
25th Anniversary Gala Reception and Dinner
November 15, 2011
When xxxxx
November 15, 2011
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Location
San Francisco, CA
25th Anniversary Dinner
Presentation of the Alexis de Tocqueville Awards
On November 15, 2011, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of Poland, Lech Wałęsa, Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, and Dr. Robert Higgs were honored at the Independent Institute’s 25th Anniversary Gala Reception and Dinner. Each honoree received the Alexis de Tocqueville Award in recognition of their exceptional contributions to humanity in advancing the ideas and ideals of individual liberty, entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, civic virtue, and the rule of law.
Lech Wałęsa
UPDATE: Under a new travel embargo by his doctors for health reasons, President Wałęsa will now accept his award and give an exclusive interview for Gala attendees by video.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Robert Higgs
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Thomas R. Brown Professor of Economics, University of Arizona; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; and Co-Editor, Journal of Economic History
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Former President of Bolivia and former Bolivian Vice President, Minister of Finance and Under-Secretary of Public Investment and International Cooperation.
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Key member of the Moscow Helsinki Group with Andrei Sakharov; Founder, Center for Democracy in the USSR; Co-Founder, Democracy and Independence (with Vladimir Bukovsky).
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| Leszek Balcerowicz
Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Poland
Former Chairman, National Bank of Poland Sir Richard C.N. Branson Founder and Chairman, Virgin Group Ltd.;
Chair, The Elders Foundation James M. Buchanan Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences;
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, George Mason University Jimmy Carter 39th President of the United States;
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ronald H. Coase Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences;
Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Chicago Law School Robert A. Conquest, CMG, OBE Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University;
Author, The Great Terror and The Harvest of Sorrow Freeman J. Dyson Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study and
Princeton University; Templeton Prize Laureate Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs International
Former Head, Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, United Kingdom Carly S. Fiorina Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Hewlett-Packard Company; Chair, One Woman Initiative Robert W. Fogel Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences;
Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions, University of Chicago Vicente Fox Quesada Former President of Mexico;
Former President, Coca Cola Mexico Andy A. Garcia Founder and President, CineSon Productions Inc.;
Golden Globe Award Winner and Academy Award Nominee James J. Heckman Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago Lord Howe of Aberavon Former Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and
Leader of the House of Commons, United Kingdom Mart Laar Minister of Defense and former Prime Minister,
Republic of Estonia |
Antonio Martino
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense, Italian Republic
Daniel L. McFadden Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences;
E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley Ron Paul, M.D. Member, U. S. House of Representatives;
Chairman, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Edmund S. Phelps Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences;
McVickar Professor of Political Economy and Director, Center on Capitalism and Society, Columbia University Jorge Quiroga Former President, Vice President, and Minister of Finance,
Republic of Bolivia Jehan Al Sadat Former First Lady of Egypt
Founder, Arab-African Women’s League Thomas C. Schelling Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences;
Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland Thaddeus N. Taube Honorary Consul, Republic of Poland
Chairman, Taube Philanthropies President, Koret Foundation Charles H. Townes Nobel Laureate in Physics; Templeton Prize Laureate;
University Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley Desmond M. Tutu Nobel Peace Prize Laureate;
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town; Former Chairman, of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of South Africa Kallistos Ware Metropolitan Archbishop of Diokleia,
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Great Britain; Fellow, Pembroke College, Oxford University Lord Sir Arthur George Weidenfeld Founder and President,
Weidenfeld Institute for Strategic Dialogue; Former Chairman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev John C. Whitehead 9th U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Former Chairman, World Trade Center Memorial Foundation Former Chairman, Harvard Board of Overseers Elie Wiesel Nobel Peace Prize Laureate;
Founding Chairman, United States Holocaust Memorial Council |
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| Robert W. Alspaugh
Former Chief Executive Officer
KPMG International William K. Bowes, Jr. Founding Partner, U.S. Venture Partners
John M. Bryan Managing Partner, Bryan Partners
Charles Crocker III Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer,
Crocker Capital, Inc. |
Timothy C. Draper
Founder and Managing Director,
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Associates Robert W. Galvin Chairman Emeritus, Motorola, Inc.
Philip Hudner Of Counsel, Botto Law Group LLP
John M. Templeton, Jr., M.D. President and Chairman, John Templeton Foundation
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| • Mary Cunningham Agee • Thomas E. Bailard • Emily J. G. Bonavia • Professor Donald J. Boudreaux • Professor Julio Harold Cole • Gilbert I. Collins • Edward J. and Nancy R. Connor • Honorable John D. Dingell • Charles R. Disque, Esq. • Susan Solinsky Duryea and Paul Duryea • Professor Price V. Fishback • Robert W. Garthwait, Sr. • Ann E. Garvey • John Hagel III, Esq. • Gregory J. Hampton, Esq. • Sally and Fred Harris • Suzanne L. Haynes and Robert Erving • Martha Hertelendy • Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC • Paul J. Hill • Kimberly and Ray Hines • William D. Hoagland • Amy Wender Hoch and John Hoch • Peter A. and Jeanine Howley • Harry P. Hutchens • Professor Michael C. Jensen • Charles B. Johnson • Eric L. Johnson • Franklin P. Johnson, Jr. • Michael L. and Lindy Keiser • Harold R. Kellman • Christopher Kerosky • Michael and Letitia Kim • John G. Lilienthal • Wade Loo |
• Charles F. Lowrey • David and Catherine Markwell • Stephen T. McClellan • Mary K. McEachron, J.D. • Dr. Thomas Gale Moore • Dr. Colin Murdoch • Dr. Steven W. O’Heron • William F. O’Keeffe, Jr. • Zack and Joy Pearlman • George H. Pfau, Jr. • Barbara Pivnicka • Dick and Renie Riemann • Dr. William J. Rutter • Dr. and Mrs. Gary G. Schlarbaum • Julie G. Sheppard • Hon. George P. and Charlotte M. Shultz • John B. and Lucretia T. Sias • Tracy Carney Skytt and Johan Skytt • Stephen A. and Dona H. Snow • Isabella P. Speakman • Lester D. Speyer • W. Dieter Tede • Professor David J. Teece • David J. and Mary L. G. Theroux • Roland E. and Leslie Shelton Tognazzini • Paul and Lorilei Tuttle • R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. • Roland D. and Giti Underhill • Lita Sam Vargas and Alan Gevins • Betsy Vobach • Sally von Behren • Charles P. Waite • Peter C. Wendell • Diane B. Wilsey • Carla and Christopher Zuber |
 The Alexis de Tocqueville Award
Born to aristocratic parents in 1805 shortly after the French Revolution, Alexis-Charles-Henri de Tocqueville was to become the greatest classical liberal thinker of the 19th century. At an early age, he distanced himself from the prejudices of his social standing and joined the struggle to establish a free society in France. His alarm at the dangers of political centralization, and his perception that tyranny could be rooted in the despotism of either an elite or a majority, led him to travel through America to observe a society that was both equalitarian and decentralized. In 1831, at the age of 26, Tocqueville spent nine months traveling the breadth of Jacksonian America to inquire into the future of French society, as revolutionary upheaval gave way to a radically decentralized civil society in America. The result was set forth in his masterful book, Democracy in America. Long recognized as a brilliant observer, Tocqueville was also a profoundly original thinker. Out of his American experience emerged a book that has had a profound impact on the thinking of the world. So uncanny, in fact, are Tocqueville’s insights into economic, social and political affairs, so accurate are his predictions, that he was not merely describing the American identity, but actually helping to create it. In his further books, travels, and cultural and political affairs, he continued his devotion to advancing a society of individual liberty, where all human endeavors and institutions were voluntary and indigenous, and hence directly accountable to those affected. In short, to Tocqueville, the health of a civil society rested upon on its being based on a natural law order of individual freedom to choose and act in all economic and social matters. To honor the tradition of Tocqueville’s pioneering work, the Independent Institute awards The Alexis de Tocqueville Award to outstanding individuals in recognition of their dedication and contributions which advance our knowledge and practice of the principles of individual liberty as the foundation of free, prosperous and humane societies. |
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| Photos by Moanalani Jeffrey | |||
