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United Nations Global
Ambassador on World Hunger
A war hero, 22-year U.S.
Congressman and presidential candidate, George McGovern will long be
remembered for his courage in speaking out against U.S. involvement
in the Vietnam War, his friendship and respect for the common man,
and his work on behalf of American farmers and hungry children
throughout the world.
In 1956 McGovern was
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served until
1960 when President John F. Kennedy named him the first director of
the Food for Peace Program and Special Assistant to the President.
In this position he made the first offer of U.S. assistance that
paved the way for the establishment of the World Food Programme. As
a U.S. senator he served on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the
Joint Economic Committee. He was chairman of the Senate Select
Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, which developed the highly
regarded "Dietary Goals for the American People." In 1972,
McGovern was the Democratic Party nominee for President.
McGovern has continued a
life of public service as an author, lecturer and visiting
professor. He served as president of the Middle East Policy Council
from 1991 to 1998, when he was appointed ambassador to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In 2000 he received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2002 he was appointed the
first United Nations global ambassador on world hunger.
McGovern is a native of South Dakota and a graduate of Dakota
Wesleyan University where he was also a history professor. During
World War II he was a B-24 bomber pilot based in Cerignola, Italy.
He flew 35 missions and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying
Cross.
Former U.S. Senator
Chairman of the World
War II Memorial Campaign, counsel to one of Washington's top law
firms, author and political commentator, Bob Dole is part of the
American landscape. In addition to becoming the Senate Majority
Leader and 1996 Republican candidate for president, he also served
as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, his party's nominee for
vice president, a member of the House of Representatives and
chairman of the Republican Party.
Dole's commitment to
public service is reflected in his deep compassion for children and
low income Americans. In the Senate he crafted and supported
policies that expanded anti-hunger programs in schools, health
clinics, day care facilities, community organizations and senior
centers by millions of dollars. In particular, he led the fight to
pen the food stamp program while at the same time eliminating waste
and red tape. Decades before "compassionate conservative"
became a campaign slogan, Dole had made the phrase a reality. He has
helped feed millions of those most in need, and did so by reaching
across political boundaries with a legislative touch that is second
to none.
Recently, Dole and
George McGovern cosponsored the George McGovern-Robert Dole Global
Food for Education and Child Nutrition Act of 2001.
Dole was raised on the
plains of western Kansas. During World War II, he was a platoon
leader in the legendary Tenth Mountain Division in Italy. In 1945,
he was gravely wounded on the battlefield and was twice decorated
for heroic achievement.
Personal Humanitarian
Envoy to the
Middle East for the United Nations Secretary General
Catherine Bertini is the
former executive director of the World Food Programme, the largest
global food aid agency. She was appointed to the post by President
George Bush in 1992, and was the first American woman to head a
United Nations organization. Bertini was reappointed for a second
five-year term in 1997.
From WFP headquarters in
Rome, Bertini carried out the agency's dual mandate: to avert
starvation in humanitarian crises through emergency operations and
to promote long-term development projects aimed at breaking the
deeply rooted hunger-poverty cycle. Under her leadership, WFP's
share of global food aid rose from 22% in 1993, to 36% in 1998.
As WFP's workload grew,
Bertini steered WFP into new policy arenas that produced significant
achievements. The agency underscored the seminal role of women in
food aid and pioneered the use of food aid to empower them.
Bertini, who in 1996 was
named by The London Times Magazine as one of "The World's Most
Powerful Women," was born in Syracuse, N.Y. She graduated from
State University of New York at Albany and was a fellow of the
Institute of Politics in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University.
Bertini has been
recognized for her professional achievements through numerous
awards. She has received honorary doctorates from: the Slovak
Agricultural University, Nitra, Slovak Republic, the John Cabot
University, Rome, the American University of Rome, Pine Manor
College in Boston, the State University of New York, Cortland, and
McGill University, Montreal.
Her other awards include
the National Association of WIC Directors Leadership Award, the
American Academy of Pediatrics citation for excellence in public
service and the Leadership in Human Services Award from the American
Public Welfare Association.
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