Dear  John,

This time last week we were getting ready to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Russell Kirk’s landmark book, The Conservative Mind. It turned out to be a fantastic homecoming for old and new friends! More than 300 guests filled the historic grand ballroom at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., the space in which Ronald Reagan held his first inaugural ball and Russell Kirk himself spoke in 1981. It was the first ever Kirk Center event in Washington and I’m pleased to report that it greatly exceeded even our high hopes.

You have been receiving emails from me introducing our panel of young conservative thinkers. Each of them gave thoughtful, personal, and impressive talks drawing upon the book. They charted a way forward for a less ideological and more capacious American conservative vision. In fact, we received a lot of appreciative comments about the large number of thoughtful young conservatives in the room. 

We also had a surprise guest, former Vice President Mike Pence. He dropped by unannounced but spent time with guests and delivered impromptu remarks on how Russell Kirk's books continue to be essential for the intellectual formation of emerging conservative leaders. He especially focused on his favorite Kirk book, The Politics of Prudence. You might enjoy a very recent review of the new edition of that book, written by a former Kirk assistant Alan Cornett.

Finally, we closed the evening with an announcement by former Michigan Governor John Engler of a major new Kirk Center program: the Richard D. McLellan Prizes for Advancing Free Speech and Expression. Each year the McLellan Prizes will award a grand prize of $50,000 and two summer research fellowships of $12,500 to those doing especially important work in fostering a culture of free speech and expression. A video of Richard McLellan discussing his purpose for establishing the Prizes and a digital version of the brochure describing eligibility and nomination criteria is now up on our website’s McLellan Prizes page.

Thanks to all our friends and sponsors who joined us on December 5! And for those who could not be there in person, we’ll be sharing a link to the panel discussion very soon.

Best regards and merry Christmas,