On May 9, 1983 President Ronald Reagan personally dedicated the John M. Ashbrook Center. The opening remarks at dinner that evening declared the Ashbrook Center's mission to educate this and future generations of students and citizens, sustaining President Lincoln's dream—that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

The Ashbrook Center teaches what it means to be an American. It is here that students, teachers, and citizens learn they are the fortunate of the earth, among the blessed of all times and places. And, they learn this is an obvious and incontrovertible thing—a truth, a self-evident truth. They learn that their blessing, their great good fortune, lies in the nation into which they were born.

Today the Ashbrook Center is growing in national significance, offering academic programs for both undergraduate and graduate students. The Ashbrook Scholar program has dramatically increased in both size and scope since its creation. Ashbrook Scholars are distinguished in their academic standing, personal achievement and moral character. While these young students come from a wide range of academic backgrounds, they all share a common characteristic in their public spiritedness and a common concern for principled political leadership.

Teachers from across the country attend the Center's programs for middle and high school history and government teachers—programs designed to develop a teacher's understanding and appreciation of the subject they teach. Among these programs for teachers is the Master of American History and Government Degree program. This Master's program is the only one of its kind in the nation. The courses in the program are intensive, week-long seminars offered only during the summer. Offering the coursework in the summer has two key benefits. First, the finest faculty from colleges and universities nationwide are available to teach. Similarly, the best high school teachers from across the nation are available to participate.

There are thousands of very good teachers in the country who love history and know that to teach it well, they must study the subject of history rather than teaching methodology, the focus of schools of education. The Ashbrook Center intends to revolutionize the teaching of American history and government in our nation's high schools.

The Ashbrook Center also seeks to both inform and "refine and enlarge the public view" through internet resources and events, including Major Issues Lecture Series luncheons, Colloquia, and Ashbrook Memorial Dinners.

Through each of these programs, the Ashbrook Center seeks nothing less than to reinvigorate the study of the American principles of self-government and study how we as a people have moved through the world in our attempt to live up to the American standard.

Our American founders knew the principles and practices of free, limited, constitutional government would have to be learned anew by each generation of Americans. Herein lies the Ashbrook Center's purpose. There is no greater honor than to pass undiminished to our children and grandchildren this great inheritance of freedom.

The Ashbrook Center is responsible for raising its own operational funds and seeks partners in this ennobling task.