A Citizen’s Obligations

The Salisbury Forum, a nonprofit organization that hosts speaker forums to foster a deeper understanding of issues affecting society today, will present The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens on Friday, April 5th at 7:30PM at The Hotchkiss School.

The presentation will be by Dr. Richard Haass, a veteran diplomat and scholar of international relations, whose book of the same title was published in January 2023. The program is free and open to the public.

In The Bill of Obligations, Haass argues that to solve our climate of division and safeguard our democracy, the very idea of citizenship must be revised and expanded. Haass contends that The Bill of Rights is at the center of our Constitution yet intractable conflicts often emerge from cases that, as former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer pointed out, “are not about right versus wrong. They are about right versus right.”

Haass, a Rhodes Scholar who earned degrees from Oberlin College and Oxford University, is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also senior counselor with Centerview Partners, an international investment banking advisory firm. He previously served as CFR's president for 20 years, in the State Department under Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, at the White House under George H.W. Bush, and at the Pentagon under Jimmy Carter. He was U.S. envoy to the Cyprus negotiations and the Northern Ireland peace process, and after 9/11 was U.S. coordinator for the future of Afghanistan.

He is the recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award, the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Tipperary International Peace Award.

Dr. Haass has written or edited fourteen books on American foreign policy, a book on management and one on American democracy.

Hotchkiss School is located at 11 Interlaken Road in Salisbury. The school is currently under construction. All attendees should park at the MAC Athletic Center parking lot for the event. A shuttle will be provided to and from the event location.