Note: Letters similar to the following went all members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior who will act as Conferees for the House, October 8, 1997.
September 23, 1997

Hon. Ralph Regula, Chair
U.S. House Appropriations Committee
Subcommittee on the Interior
B-308 Rayburn H.O.B.
The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Regula,

As students of the achievements of President Woodrow Wilson, we strongly urge you to continue funding for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. We favor the position adopted by the Senate in supporting the Center.

As the Center prepares to shape a new future, we think it important to note what a valuable national resource the Center has become. In PL 90-637, the Congress designed a Center "symbolizing and strengthening the fruitful relations between the world of learning and the world of public affairs." In its nearly 30 years of operation, the Center has done just that - fashioned a national strength out of America's international leadership in learning and democracy. Throughout the world, the Center symbolizes the "spirit of Woodrow Wilson," a tribute not only to an American President but to the spirit of American ideals.

For America, the Center stands as more than a mere symbol of spirit or intellectual leadership. At the Center, the American public supports important work understanding the forces of our political life. In our area of the American presidency, for example, the Center recently helped Yale professor Stephen Skowronek develop what has become an most important book, The Politics That Presidents Make (1993, Harvard). His book carries out just the mission the Congress mandated for the Center: it describes how an important institution shapes the way we solve government's problems. In his preface, Prof. Skowronek described the Center as, a "lively forum for interdisciplinary exchange" of ideas. We could give you scores of similar examples in which the Center provided the fruitful environment central to creating an important work describing American policy-making.

The Presidency Research Group encourages you to recede and concur with the Senate's position on funding as the appropriate way to preserve a national resource. For them, I am

Sincerely yours,

signed Terry Sullivan/President








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