In 2013, The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) established an annual Veterans Day lecture to honor General Josiah Bunting III, a charter member of AHI’s board of directors. AHI is pleased to present the eighth annual lecture, delivered by Captain Charles “Cully” Stimson, Senior Legal Fellow and Manager, National Security Law Program, the Heritage Foundation. Captain Stimson spoke at the Heritage Foundation on “The Dignity of Military Service.”
In his lecture, Captain Stimson asked his fellow citizens to “pause to think deeply about service, dignity, humility, and sacrifice to one’s country.” A third-generation naval officer, he discussed the importance of family, friends, and fellow citizens in giving “the gift of service. The value he came to admire most among the best of his fellow soldiers was their “quiet sense of modesty.” Veterans Day, he observed, should be considered as a day of “thank you to the American people, thank you for in supporting us, for standing behind us, for believing us, for giving us the resolve and strength for letting us . . . serve a noble country.”
Captain Stimson earned a bachelor’s degree at Kenyon College and a J.D. at the George Mason School of Law (now the Antonin Scalia Law School). He worked as a prosecutor at the local, state, and federal levels. He served as a United States Navy JAG officer from 1992 to 1997. He worked under Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates in the Department of Defense. Captain Stimson is an expert in “national security, homeland security, crime control, drug policy and immigration.” He has accepted thousands of media requests for his expertise, appearing on such outlets as FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, BBC, NPR and C-SPAN.
General Josiah Bunting served as an infantry officer in Vietnam with the Ninth Infantry Division. He received the Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam Honor Medal–2nd class, Presidential Unit Citation, Parachute Badge, Combat Infantry Badge and Ranger Tab. Subsequently, he taught history at West Point and at the Naval War College. He served as President, Briarcliff College (1973-1977); President, Hampden-Sydney College (1977-1987); and Superintendent, VMI (1995-2003). He published four novels, including The Lionheads (G. Braziller, 1972), a best-seller that was selected by Time Magazine as one of “The Ten Best Novels” of 1973.
AHI would like to thank the Heritage Foundation and AHI Senior Fellow Juliana Pilon for making Captain Stimson’s lecture possible.
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