Kendal’s Contemporary Issues Discussion Group (CIDG) continues its weekly Thursday morning pursuit of learning and discussion.
On January 28 at 10:00 am, the group, which currently meets on Zoom, will hear from Ambassador James D. Bindenagel who will be on line from Bonn, Germany. He will talk on “Germany and the U.S.: Today and Tomorrow”
J.D. Bindenagel is a retired 30-year U.S. career diplomat and expert on Germany, where he served as deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy, Bonn, from 1994 to 1997. His latest book, Germany from Peace to Power? was recently published by the Bonn University Press.
Previously, Ambassador Bindenagel served as the founding Henry Kissinger Professor at Bonn University. He is currently Senior Professor there and also a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin.
In 1999, Mr. Bindenagel was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues. He also served as Special U.S. Negotiator for “conflict diamonds.”
Following his diplomatic career, he was Vice President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and subsequently Vice President at DePaul University. Prior to his diplomatic career, he was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Germany.
Ambassador Bindenagel received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001, the Commander’s Cross of the Federal Order of Merit from the President of Germany in 2001, and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award from President George W. Bush in 2002.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the American Council on Germany and the American Institute of Contemporary German Studies. Mr.Bindenagel is also President of the Japan America Society of Chicago.
He holds an MA in Public Administration and an AB in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Residents who are not on the CIDG Zoom list, can be added by contacting Gene DuBow.