David Manker Abshire

David Manker Abshire (April 11, 1926 – October 31, 2014) was an American politician who served as a Special Counselor to PresidentRonald Reagan and was the United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 1983 to 1987. Abshire presided over the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

In July 2002, he was elected President of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation of New York. He was a member of the exclusive Alfalfa Club.^[1]

Abshire was a Republican and the author of seven books, the most recent being A Call to Greatness: Challenging Our Next President, which was published in 2008. Abshire was married and had five children.

He was a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation^[2] and sat on the advisory board of America Abroad Media.^[3]

In 1962, Abshire and AdmiralArleigh Burke founded the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).^[5] In 1988, as President of CSIS, he merged the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum into his organization to give it more input from the Asia-Pacific region. Dr. Abshire served as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations from 1970 to 1973 and later as Chairman of the U.S. Board of International Broadcasting (1975–77). He was a member of the Murphy Commission (1974–75), the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1981–1982), and the President's Task Force on U.S. Government International Broadcasting (1991).^[10]

During the transition of government in 1980, Abshire was asked by President-elect Reagan to head the National Security Group, which included the State and Defense Departments, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency. He served for nine years on the board of Procter & Gamble.^[11]

Abshire was married to Carolyn Lamar Sample. He had four daughters and one son: Anna Lamar Bowman, Mary Lee Jensvold, Phyllis d'Hoop, Caroline Hall and Lupton Abshire.^[7]

In 1983–1987 Abshire was Ambassador to NATO where, in reaction to the threat posed by Soviet SS-20 missiles, he was appointed to oversee the deployment of Pershing and Cruise missiles. For his service, he was given the Distinguished Public Service Medal.^[11]

Abshire was recalled as the Iran-Contra Affair unfolded to serve as Special Counselor to President Reagan with Cabinet rank.^[12] His charge was to assure a full investigation of the sale of arms to Iran so as to restore the confidence of the nation in the Reagan presidency.

• Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1992.^[13]
• Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, from the University of the South in 1994.
• John Carroll Award for outstanding service by a Georgetown University alumnus.^[14]
• Distinguished Graduate Award of the United States Military Academy.^[13]
• 1994 U.S. Military Academy's Castle Award
• Gold Medal of the Sons of the American Revolution^[13]
• Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award
• Order of the Crown (Belgium)
• Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
• Medalla del Presidente de la República Italiana , Senado, Parlamento y Gobierno.
• Gran Oficial de la Orden del Mérito de la República Italiana . ^{[ 15 ]}
• Medalla Heung-In de la Orden del Mérito del Servicio Diplomático (Corea)
• Insignia de Comendador de Primera Clase de la Orden del León de Finlandia
• Orden del Libertador (Argentina) en 1999.
• Orden del Tesoro Sagrado Estrella de Oro y Plata (Japón) en 2001.
• Medalla del Departamento de Defensa por Servicio Público Distinguido. ^{[ 13 ]}
• Medalla Presidencial de Ciudadanía – Otorgada en 1989 por el presidente Ronald Reagan . ^{[ 16 ]}
• Doctor en Derecho Civil, honoris causa, por la Universidad de Georgetown en 2006. ^{[ 13 ]}

Abshire falleció el 31 de octubre de 2014 a causa de fibrosis pulmonar en Alexandria, Virginia . ^{[ 17 ] [ 18 ]} Le sobreviven su esposa de 56 años, Carolyn Sample, su hijo Lupton, sus hijas Anna Bowman, Mary Lee Jensvold, Phyliis d'Hoop y Carolyn Hall. Tiene 11 nietos. ^{[ 4 ]}

• Seguridad Nacional: Estrategias Políticas, Militares y Económicas en la Década Venidera , 1963. LCCN 63-17834 . 
• El Sur rechaza a un profeta: La vida del senador DM Key, 1824–1900 , Praeger, 1967. OCLC 1283029 . 
• Radiodifusión internacional: una nueva dimensión de la diplomacia occidental , 1976. ISBN 0803906579OCLC 2401630​​ 
• Responsables de la política exterior: Presidente contra Congreso , 1979. ISBN 080391332XOCLC 5707721​​ 
• Cómo prevenir la Tercera Guerra Mundial: Una gran estrategia realista , 1988. ISBN 0060159863.
• Poniendo orden en la casa de Estados Unidos: La nación como una familia (con Brock Brower), 1996. ISBN 0275954315OCLC 33281228 .​ 
• Salvar la presidencia de Reagan: La confianza es la moneda de cambio (con Richard E. Neustadt), 2005. ISBN 1585444669OCLC 57722422​​ 
• Un llamado a la grandeza: Un desafío para nuestro próximo presidente , 2008. ISBN 9780742562455OCLC 174040251​​ 

• Apariciones en C-SPAN