The Conference begins on Friday evening, February 17 with the Keynote Address by Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, Congressman, Secretary of Energy, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and presidential candidate in 2008. Richardson will be kicking off the discussion of the Conference theme “The U.S. in a 21^st Century World: Do we have what it takes?”

Saturday morning will begin with Pete du Pont, former Governor of Delaware, member of Congress, presidential candidate in 1988, and currently a journalist and economic consultant, addressing the issues of our faltering economy and our future. Next will be Clyde Prestowitz, founder and president of the Economic Strategy Institute looking at economic issues.

To wrap up the morning will be Amory Lovins, co-founder and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Lovins, an expert on energy and environmental issues, will talk on “Reinventing Fire: A Business-Led Clean Energy Solution for Security and Prosperity.”

Saturday afternoon will focus on national security and diplomacy issues. Larry Wilkerson will lead off with an assessment of our current situation on military and security issues. The team of Wayne Porter and Mark Mykleby will follow with “Beyond Risk and Threat: The Need for a National Strategic Narrative.” Porter and Mykleby served as strategic advisors to Admiral Mike Mullens at the Pentagon and developed a well-known paper on the national strategic narrative.

Nicholas Burns, former Undersecretary of State and currently professor at the Kennedy School at Harvard University will focus on an International Strategy for U.S. Diplomacy. Burns will be moderating much of the Conference and has been very well received in previous years.

Sunday’s talks will address two further key areas – education and media. Robert Schwartz, Professor of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education will look at “U.S. Education in a Global Context.” Deborah Amos, Middle East Foreign Correspondent for National Public Radio, will address media in the modern world.

Throughout the Conference, attendees will have the opportunity to address questions to the speakers both individually and during panels with several of the speakers together. The Conference promises to be stimulating and informative. Perhaps it will even answer the question “Do we have what it takes?”

The 25th Camden Conference will be held February 17 to 19, 2012, at the Camden Opera House and satellite locations in Ellsworth (The Grand), Rockland (Strand Theatre), and Belfast (Hutchinson Center).  Please call 236-1034 to register.

The Camden Conference is a nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization whose mission is to foster informed discourse on world affairs through year-round community events, public and student engagement, and an annual weekend Conference featuring distinguished speakers focusing on a central theme related to U.S. foreign affairs.  For more information, please visit www.camdenconference.org or call (207) 236-1034.

Join us February 17-19, 2012 live from the historic Camden Opera House or from one of our satellite venues in Belfast, Ellsworth or Rockland and earn up to 8.3 CLEs.

General Registration is now open for what promises to be one of the most compelling Camden Conferences ever! The U.S. in a 21st Century World: Do we have what it takes? Those wishing to avoid the risk of losing out for one of the much-sought-after spots at the historic Camden Opera House can get a jump on the process by signing up now at www.camdenconference.org

In addition to the live event at the Camden Opera House, the 25th annual Camden Conference will also be streamed live to satellite venues at the Strand Theatre in Rockland, the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast, and The Grand in Ellsworth.

Given the importance of our country’s education programs, attendees will have the opportunity to gain insight into its successes and flaws from a leader of strategic thinking about education reform in the US. As Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Robert Schwartz teaches the next leaders in the field and for years has advised private and government sectors in developing enlightened education policy and programs. He brings forty years of seasoning in the complicated and often contentious fields of education reform, school-to-work concepts, educational standards programs and urban-school improvement efforts. His experience can help refine our thinking about the value of change in our approach to educating our children.

Captain Wayne Porter (USN) and Colonel Mark Mykleby (USMC Retired) were asked by Mike Mullen, recent Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to look far ahead for more effective ways to conduct our foreign policy and reduce overt militarization in US operations around the world. These authors of the game changing ‘ Mr. Y’ report (4/2011) “A National Strategic Narrative” argue that America relies far too much on its military as the primary tool the rest of the world sees and far too little on what really counts—investment in intellectual capital built on a much stronger base of education, health and social services right here at home. As that goes, they argue, so goes our country. Porter and Mykleby will share the insights gained in studying these issues for several years and developing this important report.

The previously announced Conference speakers include former ambassador and Governor Bill Richardson, R. Nicholas Burns of Harvard’s Kennedy School, Deborah Amos of NPR, Clyde Prestowitz of the Economic Strategy Institute, Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and former governor Pete du Pont.

The 25th Camden Conference will be held February 17 to 19, 2012, at the Camden Opera House and satellite locations in Ellsworth (The Grand), Rockland (The Strand), and Belfast (Hutchinson Center). Tickets are currently on sale. For more information, go to www.CamdenConference.org or call 236-1034.

Former U. S. Senator George Mitchell spoke in Belfast yesterday as part of the distinguished lecture series presented by Senior College and the Camden Conference. If you missed it, you may watch it here.

For a written account of one of Senator Mitchell’s earlier appearances at the Camden Conference, click here.

For the full list of recommended reading, please visit our 2012 Book List Page.

As in the past 24 years, noted experts will be coming to Camden to share their critical insights on this complex array of issues. In addition to the keynote address by former ambassador and governor Bill Richardson, Camden Conference organizers are delighted to see the return of R. Nicholas Burns, professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School, who will serve as the conference moderator and speak on diplomacy issues. Former U.S. ambassador to NATO and Greece, and State Department spokesman, Burns has received 12 honorary degrees and numerous awards and serves on the boards of many organizations, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Atlantic Council. He is also director of the Aspen Strategy Group, senior counselor at the Cohen Group, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Also returning to the Camden Conference (after seven years) is Deborah Amos, who covers the Middle East for NPR, reporting frequently for Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Amos has been a Nieman Fellow and a Shorenstein Fellow (both at Harvard) and has won many national and international journalism awards. Her most recent book is Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East.

International trade guru Clyde Prestowitz served as counselor to the Secretary of Commerce in the Reagan administration before establishing the Economic Strategy Institute, which has played key roles in the public policy process, including spurring passage of NAFTA and shaping U.S. trade policies toward Japan, China, and Korea. His latest book, The Betrayal of American Prosperity, considers ways to restore our economic leadership and excellence.

Environmental innovator Amory B. Lovins, cofounder, chairman, and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit “think-and-do tank,” has been active in the areas of energy, resources, environment, development, and security in some 50 countries for more than 35 years. The recipient of countless awards, including the Nissan Prize (for inventing an ultralight-hybrid car), the Delphi Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship, Lovins has received 10 honorary doctorates and written or cowritten 31 books, including Small Is Profitable, Natural Capitalism, and Winning the Oil Endgame.

Former two-term governor of Delaware Pete du Pont is chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based think tank. He also writes the monthly “Outside the Box” column for www.opinionjournal.com, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial-page website. As governor, he signed into law two income-tax-reduction measures and worked to reform government and make Delaware a leader in the financial-services industry. In 1996, he cofounded and served as editor of IntellectualCapital.com, one of the first public-policy e-zines. In his 1988 Presidential campaign, du Pont focused on the central issues facing our country — the economy, taxes, education, retirement income, and defense.

Additional speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

The 25th Camden Conference will be held February 17 to 19, 2012, at the Camden Opera House and satellite locations in Ellsworth (The Grand), Rockland (The Strand), and Belfast (Hutchinson Center). Tickets go on sale to the public on November 28. Early tickets available for Camden Conference members. For more information, go to www.CamdenConference.org or call 236-1034.

Former U. S. Senator George Mitchell will speak in Belfast on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 11:00 AM at the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center. Belfast Senior College and the Camden Conference are co-sponsoring the senator’s first public address in coastal mid-Maine since his resignation as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in May. His talk opens the 2011-2012 Distinguished Speaker Series at Senior College, and the presentation is free and open to the public.

Born in Waterville, Senator Mitchell graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick and Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Following his 15-year service as a U. S. Senator from Maine, he has become known in the last decade as an envoy of the United States to troubled regions. He played a critical role in securing peace in Northern Ireland, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. In 2000 Mitchell was chosen by President Clinton to lead a fact-finding mission to Israel and Palestine, and, in 2009 President Obama named him the U.S. Special Envoy to the Arab-Israeli peace process, a position he held for more than two years.

Senator Mitchell’s will cover the recent political turbulence in the Middle East and its effect on U.S. foreign policy. A reception will follow his talk.

Seating for 250 will be on a first-come basis in the Conference Center at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center on Route 3 in Belfast. Belfast Senior College and the Camden Conference are joining to bring Senator Mitchell to mid-coast Maine in anticipation of the 25th Annual Camden Conference: The U.S. in a 21st Century World: Do we have what it takes? February 17-19, 2012. For more information on The Camden Conference, please visit www.camdenconference.org. For more information on Senior College, please visit www.belfastseniorcollege.org.

For an account of one of Senator Mitchell’s earlier appearances at the Camden Conference, click here.

25th Camden Conference Keynote Announced

Does America have what it takes to prosper in the 21st Century World? To compete effectively? Or to thrive and offer its citizens the kinds of satisfying lives they want? These are a few of the varied angles to the challenging question the Camden Conference will be posing at its 25th Conference, Feb. 17-19, 2012: "The U.S. in a 21st Century World: Do We Have What it Takes?"

The Camden Conference theme is an unusually searching and introspective one, an examination of the country’s prospects for the future against the backdrop of major transitions in global alignments, an unstable world order, and the rise of new economic power centers in an era of prolonged economic distress. Our political system, our diplomatic and military establishments, our educational system, media, and energy and environmental policies — all will come in for scrutiny. As it has been for the previous 24 years, the aim of the gathering will be to foster informed discourse on world affairs, in this case with a particular eye both to where the country may be exceptionally strong – and to where we may be falling behind.

The keynote speaker who will set the tone for this wide-ranging exploration of our national prospects is Bill Richardson. As a 2008 presidential candidate, governor of New Mexico until last December, and before that US Energy Secretary and Ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration, 15-year congressman, and international negotiator, Richardson is the perfect guide for Conference participants through the maze of issues surrounding the core question of "Do We Have What It Takes?"

When Richardson was nominated by then President-Elect Barack Obama to be Secretary of Commerce in late 2008, the New York Times noted that his was "a resume of unusual breadth."

Who better to explore the prospects for the US role on the evolving world stage, for example, than a man who, besides his experience at the UN, negotiated the release of US prisoners from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, and Cuba — efforts he tried unsuccessfully to repeat in Cuba this autumn and which he may well have further opportunities to replicate in his current role as Special Envoy for the Organization of American States (OAS). Richardson’s earlier successes as a negotiator have won him multiple Nobel Prize nominations.

The political gridlock that has made many question America’s ability to cope with the tough challenges it faces at this time is another aspect of the Conference theme that Richardson will be addressing from a deep base of experience. Having been confirmed unanimously as Secretary of Energy in 1998, Richardson withdrew from consideration for Commerce Secretary in early January 2009, when it emerged that a grand jury was investigating allegations that his administration in New Mexico had awarded contracts improperly to a political donor. The investigation was later dropped with no finding of any wrongdoing, but Richardson said that his nomination would have encountered "an untenable delay" at a time when the new administration was grappling with an economic crisis. It was an incident in a progressive lengthening of delays in confirmation of nominations by presidents of both parties that is part and parcel of a logjam now affecting government decisions of all types.

As the son of a New England banker and a Mexican mother who spent his childhood in Mexico City and his teenage years in Massachusetts, not to mention a former governor of one of the most diverse states in the country, Richardson is also uniquely positioned to address the varied domestic aspects of this more introspective Camden Conference.

Besides his tenure as Secretary of Energy, Richardson’s energy and environmental credentials include developing a requirement that utilities in New Mexico obtain 20% of their electricity from renewable sources. He spurred creation of the Rail Runner Express commuter rail system in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and co-founded the nascent Western Climate Initiative for cap-and-trade carbon control in several western states and Canadian provinces, including Quebec and Ontario. The Western Climate Initiative is similar in concept to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in which Maine participates.

Even education — another part of the Conference topic — is an area on which the former New Mexico governor speaks with pride of having "shifted money from administration to the classroom and increased access to early-childhood education."

Tickets for next February’s Conference — including Richardson’s keynote plus two days of discussion and debate led by a roster of speakers representing a range of viewpoints on all these varied aspects of America’s role in the 21st Century World — will go on sale to Camden Conference Members Nov. 7 and to the general public on Nov. 28. Attendees can listen to and interact with the speakers in person at the Camden Opera House or watch a live-streamed video feed at the Strand Theatre in Rockland, the Hutchinson Center in Belfast or The Grand in Ellsworth.

For more information on the 25th Camden Conference, 2012 Book List, Community Events Series, or Membership, please visit www.camdenconference.org or call 207 236 1034.

The 25th annual Camden Conference takes place February 17-19, 2012 live from the historic Camden Opera House with streaming to satellite venues in Belfast at the Hutchinson Center, Ellsworth at The Grand, and Rockland’s Strand Theatre.

Membership Drive now underway

Membership is another way to support the Conference and a recent mailing has gone out to many of you. Conference ticket sales only cover about 60% of the cost of producing the Conference, so membership along with corporate and foundation fundraising are crucial to our success. Members receive a number of benefits all outlined in the mailing and on our website. Ticket sales open to members on November 7, 2011, three weeks before sales to the general public. Members at the $300 level and above are eligible for preferred seating in the Opera House and invitations to functions where the speakers are present. Click here to become a Member now.

Community Events

Our Community Events Series has kicked off with an insightful presentation Professor Paul Holman of UMO and currently we are collaborating with the Camden International Film Festival. Check the website and your local newspaper for more upcoming community events.

Thank you!

Our spring scholarship drive was a big success and the funds raised will ensure that many students will be able to attend the conference at reduced rates. Speaking of students, the 2011 Curriculum Enrichment Program is complete and available on our website. This program uses clips from the 2011 Conference to develop themes for social studies classes. Our team of local teachers has prepared lessons based on the clips and the entire program is available free to teachers.

We look forward to an exciting Conference and will be keeping you up to date on developments as they unfold.

The Conference takes place live at the historic Camden Opera House, February 17-19, 2012, and will focus on the prospects for our future role on the world stage and the continued effective exercise of our diplomatic, military, economic, and political powers in the years ahead.

We will publish our regular conference booklist in September, but we hope you enjoy these selected summer readings on some of the challenges to be addressed during our 2012 Conference. For an overview of the 25th Camden Conference, please click here.