Hillsdale College is pleased to announce that former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III will be the speaker at its 158th Commencement Ceremony on May 8, 2010. Mr. Meese is the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

During the Reagan administration, he was Counselor to the President from 1981 to 1985 and U.S. Attorney General from 1985 to 1988. In both positions he was a member of both the Cabinet and the National Security Council.

During the presidential campaign of 1980, Mr. Meese served as Chief of Staff and senior issues adviser for the Reagan-Bush Committee. Formerly, he was Governor Reagan’s Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff in California from 1969 to 1974, and Legal Affairs Secretary from 1967 to 1968. Before joining Governor Reagan’s staff, he served as Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, California.

Born in Oakland, California in 1931, Mr. Meese graduated from Yale University in 1953 and holds a law degree from the University of California-Berkeley. He is a retired Colonel in the Army Reserve and remains active in numerous civic and educational organizations. He is the author of Leadership, Ethics and Policing and With Reagan: The Inside Story. He and his wife, Ursula, have two grown children and live in McLean, Virginia.

“The Senior Class is honored to have Mr. Meese speak at Hillsdale College’s 158th Commencement,” said Senior Class Vice President Brooke Olesen. “We look forward to having such an esteemed American send us from this great college as we begin lives of service to the ideals taught here.”