17 May 2022: A Summer study program focusing on ‘statesmanship’, created for a small group of young Australian and US leaders, including three St John’s College Annapolis, Ramsay Postgraduate Scholars, was officially launched last week by Australian Ambassador to the US the Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO.

Ambassador Sinodinos hosted the launch event at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. He was joined by Zoom by Ramsay Chairman, the Hon John Howard OM AC.

The Statesmanship of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill study program has been designed by St John’s College, Annapolis academics, especially for this study cohort. In nine seminars throughout June the group will examine the concept of ‘statesmanship’ through some of Lincoln’s and Churchill’s most famous writings and speeches. Participants include the three 2021 St John’s College, Annapolis, Ramsay Postgraduate Scholars, as well as a small select group of scholars and faculty from both St John’s College, Annapolis, and the US Naval Academy.

St John’s Ramsay Postgraduate Scholar Benjamin Crocker said everyone present was grateful for the support and encouragement the Ambassador and Mr Howard are giving to the program.

Reflecting on the launch event Benjamin said:

“Ambassador Sinodinos was extremely generous with his time, dedicating a significant portion of his afternoon to giving us an Australia-centric overview of geopolitics in the 21st Century. We then enjoyed a reflection on Abraham Lincoln from Ramsay-St John’s Academic Mentor, Dr. Adam Schulman. Dr. Schulman is a Rhodes Scholar alumnus and directed the group in a close reading of Lincoln’s Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum. It was our great privilege to then be joined by former Prime Minister John Howard, who gave a captivating reflection on the leadership of Winston Churchill, before undertaking an extended discussion with the forum. Mr Howard’s incisive commentary on the nature of Statesmanship in the Western World, and his authoritative explication of our shared Civilizational inheritance was deeply appreciated by all delegates to the forum.

Following our meeting at the Embassy, we proceeded to Washington’s Old Ebbitt Grill, carrying on the discussion over dinner well into the evening. Our sincere thanks to Ambassador Sinodinos and his staff, St John’s College, The United States Naval Academy, and not least, Mr Howard, for his generosity in addressing the meeting at such an early hour in Sydney.”

The Ramsay Centre offers postgraduate scholarships to St John’s College, Annapolis, as part of our suite of Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarships. St John’s College is the third oldest college in the US, a celebrated liberal arts college, where students have been reading the Great Books since 1937.

St John’s College, Annapolis, Ramsay Postgraduate Scholars are supported to participate in an internship in an area of interest in Washington DC, as well as complete the college’s celebrated Master of Arts in the Liberal Arts degree.

For more information on our St John’s College, Annapolis, Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship visit: St John’s College, Annapolis, Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship.

Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098 / sarah.switzer@ramsaycentre.org

For more information on the Centre please visit our website: www.ramsaycentre.org