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April/May 2009
Eric Holder Installed as U.S. Attorney General at GW
By Julia Parmley President Barack Obama, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, and
Ethel Kennedy, wife of former
Senator and Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy, were among the capacity crowd
at GW’s Lisner Auditorium for the March 27 installation ceremony of Eric H. Holder Jr. as the nation’s 82nd attorney
general. The ceremony began with welcoming remarks by Deputy Attorney General “I can confirm that [Holder] is thoroughly
prepared to take on the
law enforcement challenges
of this new century,” said
Obama. “As a student of history,
he also knows history’s
lessons about what happens
when we let politics and ideology
cloud our judgment
and let fear and anger, rather
than reason, dictate our policy.
These are mistakes he
will not repeat, because Eric
comes to this job with one
agenda: to do what is right
under the law.” Obama said he wanted to
appoint an attorney general
who understood that justice Following Obama’s
remarks, Richter swore
in Holder as the 82nd U.S.
attorney general.
In his address, Holder
stressed that the United
States is a “nation of laws” Calling the appointment
the highest honor of his life
and career, Holder said, “When American generations
look back now on the work
that we will do, let us strive to ensure that they will say
that we kept the faith and
that we made a superb Justice
Department even greater.” Holder received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from GW in 1998, was a GW trustee from 1996 to 1997, and served as a member of the GW Homeland Security Policy Institute Steering Committee.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu |
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