The Henry Salvatori Prize Dinner

Prior to becoming president in 2017, Ryan Williams held positions at the Claremont Institute as Chief Operating Officer, Director of Programs, Director of Special Projects, Assistant Director of Programs, and Research Assistant. He has taught American politics and political philosophy as an adjunct professor at California State University, San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona. A 2004 Publius Fellow of the Claremont Institute, Williams holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Hillsdale College and an M.A. in Politics from Claremont Graduate University. A native of Southern California, he was born in Santa Monica before moving to Encinitas in north county San Diego. He is the Publisher of The American Mind. He now resides in Claremont with his wife Amelia and their children.

For more than forty years, Harvey Mansfield has been writing and teaching about political philosophy, for which he has garnered a national reputation along with numerous honors and awards. His commentary "demonstrates the virtues that should guide scholars of the humanities," writes Mark Blitz, a former student. Blitz explains those virtues as "patient exploration of the intention of a superior author, attention to other scholars and generosity to trailblazing teachers, brilliance and wit, and an eye toward what can improve us here and now."

Mansfield examines both contemporary politics and their historical origins. His fourteen books delve into the words of past thinkers such as Edmund Burke and Machiavelli, where he finds answers to puzzles such as why we believe today that political parties are respectable or desirable.

Senator Tom Cotton grew up on his family’s cattle farm in Yell County, Arkansas. He graduated from Dardanelle High School, Harvard University, and Harvard Law School. As an undergraduate in 1997, Senator Cotton attended the Claremont Institute’s Publius Fellowship, which he credits as the “single most important influence on my understanding of the American regime.” After a clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals and private law practice, he left the law because of the September 11th attacks, becoming an Infantry Officer for the U.S. Army. Senator Cotton served nearly five years on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, receiving the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Ranger Tab. After his military service, Senator Cotton worked for McKinsey & Co. and served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. As the junior Senator from Arkansas, he sits on the Banking Committee, the Intelligence Committee, and the Armed Services Committee. Senator Cotton and his wife Anna have two sons, Gabriel and Daniel.

Charles Kesler is a Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute, Editor of the "Claremont Review of Books," and the Dengler-Dykema Distinguished Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College.

Dr. Kesler also teaches in the Claremont Institute’s Publius Fellows Program and Lincoln Fellows Program. He received his B.A. in Social Studies and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University. From 1989 to 2008, Dr. Kesler was director of CMC’s Henry Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World.

He is the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Bradley Prize, a high honor bestowed upon distinguished individuals who have influenced American scholarship and debate. From September 2000 to March 2001, he served as vice chairman of the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Congress's James Madison Commemoration Commission.

He was selected in June 2000 as a member of the Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings Issue sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society.

Dr. Kesler is the author of "I Am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism" (Broadside Books); the editor of "Saving the Revolution: The Federalist Papers and the American Founding" (Free Press); co-editor, with John B. Kienker, of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Ten Years of the Claremont Review of Books" (Rowman & Littlefield); and co-editor, with William F. Buckley, Jr., of "Keeping the Tablets: Modern American Conservative Thought" (HarperCollins). He has written extensively on American constitutionalism and political thought, and his edition of The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics) is the best-selling edition in the country.