Featuring an interview with Pro Football Hall of Famers and former Dallas Cowboys players Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson
Dallas, Texas – In this Summer 2024 edition of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute, our contributors look at how sports can impact a nation outside the boundaries of the field of play. Sports journalists, professional athletes, and George W. Bush Institute experts explore Title IX, men’s and women’s sports, and how autocratic and democratic governments manage the unique public relations opportunity of hosting global multi-sport events.
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News talks to legendary former Cowboys Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson – both members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame – about race relations in the locker room. USA Today’s award-winning sports columnist Christine Brennan sat down with The Catalyst’s Associate Editor David Kagan to discuss the profound power shifts in women’s sports.
Continuing on the theme of equality, Shira Springer, sports journalist and lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, sheds light on the ongoing fight for gender equity. And multi-medalist and Olympics commentator Summer Sanders shares how to survive success, face your fears, and meet your kids where they are.
By looking back at recent Olympics, and forward toward the Paris games, Dr. Bērziņa-Čerenkova, Head of the Asia Research Program at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, explains the fundamental differences in how governments manage the communication opportunity of hosting world-wide athletic events to project national pride and build soft power.
David J. Kramer, Executive Director of the Bush Institute, recalls some inspiring moments in American sports history, and the impact sports can have on our nation. Igor Khrestin, the Bradford M. Freeman Managing Director of Global Policy at the Bush Institute, shares the influence soccer has had on the Ukrainian national identity. Senior Advisor at the Bush Institute Kevin Sullivan explains through personal experience what sports and fandom mean to us, the everyday citizen. Jason Galui, Director of Veterans and Military Families at the Bush Institute, writes how years playing hockey goalie helped prepare him for an U.S. Army career. To read the full edition of The Catalyst visit https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/sports-and-power.
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About the George W. Bush Institute
The George W. Bush Institute is a solution-oriented nonpartisan policy organization focused on ensuring opportunity for all, strengthening democracy, and advancing free societies. Housed within the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the Bush Institute is rooted in compassionate conservative values and committed to creating positive, meaningful, and lasting change at home and abroad. We utilize our unique platform and convening power to advance solutions to national and global issues of the day. Learn more at bushcenter.org.
