Mr. Vangala Ram – Developments in the Middle East
- Mr. Vangala Ram is an intelligence and Foreign Service professional. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service as a Senior FSO recently after a distinguished twenty-seven year career, earning a number of awards along the way. Mr. Ram’s tours in the Foreign Service included nine overseas diplomatic assignments in Banjul, Amman, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tunis, Riyadh, Seoul, Cologne, Kabul, and… … Read More

There are no upcoming events.

Louisville’s honorary Belgium Consul Receives Award
- At the direction of King Philippe of Belgium, former Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman, Alfred Welsh, has recently been made an officer in Belgium's Order of Leopold, which is one of that country's oldest and highest-ranking Orders. Al was given a medal as a distinction in recognition of his 40 years of meritorious service and all that he has… … Read More
Book Club Meeting
- The next Louisville Committee Book Club will be Thursday June 15, 7:00 pm at the home of Bob Redmon and Kathi Peterson, 9910 Winged Foot Drive, Louisville, KY 40223. We will be reading Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, by Jared Diamond (Back Bay Books, 2020). Please RSVP: Kathi's phone is (502) 345-6205. … Read More

Advancing public dialogue on foreign relations since 1938

Welcome to the Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations (LCFR) website. Since 1938, the LCFR has been working to help advance public dialogue on foreign relations. Our members are drawn from the highest levels of the diplomatic, academic, political, military and scientific communities.

The mission of the Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is to promote a high-level, non-partisan dialogue on American foreign policy and foreign affairs in the Louisville metropolitan region. The LCFR seeks to promote a more informed foreign policy by bridging the divide between broader public opinion and the established foreign policy making community.

Past Speakers

Dr. Robert G. Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University
Ambassador Wendy R. Sherman, Professor of Public Leadership Director of the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School; former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Dr. J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS
Judd Devermont – Director, CSIS Africa Program
Dr. Bruce Jentleson, William Preston Few Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Political Science at Duke University
Dr. Aparna Pande, Research Fellow and Director, Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C
Dr. David Dollar, Senior Fellow, China Center, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.
Ms. Lindsey R. Sheppard, Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C.
Mr. Norm Szydlowski, President, American Committees on Foreign Relations; former Vice President, Chevron
Mr. Mark D. Simakovsky, Senior Fellow, the Atlantic Council, and Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies
Mr. Michael Cohen, Columnist, The Boston Globe
Dr. Theodore Bromund, Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations, Heritage Foundation
Ambassador Dennis Jett (ret.), Professor of International Affairs, Penn State University
Mr. Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Executive Editor, Foreign Affairs
Dr. Ora Szekely, Associate Professor of Political Science, Clark University
Dr. Rodger A. Payne, Professor of Political Science, University of Louisville
HE David O’Sullivan
Dr. Henry Barkley
Dr. Adam Garfinkle, Editor, The National Interest
Omar Samad
Scott Snyder
Hon. Dirk Wouters
Dr. Scott Straus
Dr. David Woolner
Dr. David Buckley
Mr. Juan Gonzalez
Ms. Barbara Slavin
Dr. Patrick M. Cronin
Ambassador (ret.) Kenneth Yalowitz
Shaun Donnelly
Dr. Dana Burde
Dr. Joyce Marie Mushaben
Robert Daly
Thomas Garrett
Dr. Michael J. Green
Ryan Crocker
Dr. John D. Sullivan