Global Nashville with Karl Dean

A Conversation With

Senator Bob Corker

The Tennessee World Affairs Council is proud to present one of Tennessee’s and the country’s most knowledgeable individuals on world affairs and the challenges the United States faces in the world. Senator Bob Corker served in the Senate from 2009 to 20017. Corker served on the Foreign Relations Committee where he was Chairman from 2015-2019.

March 18, 2021

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Legacy: After becoming ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2013 and taking the reins as chairman in 2015, Senator Corker made restoring the committee’s power and status a top priority. To do so, he concentrated on three key goals: making the committee function again, focusing the committee’s work on core American interests, and making the committee genuinely matter to the American people and the rest of the world.

In his work to restore the committee’s functionality as a driving force for U.S. foreign policy and an effective check on the executive branch, Corker led a number of successful initiatives.

First State Department authorization bill in 14 years
Led the winning battle to ensure Congress had a say in determining whether President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal could move forward (he ultimately opposed the JCPOA)
CAATSA sanctions (Russia, North Korea, Iran)
Uncovered State’s system for evaluating progress in combatting human trafficking was subject to political interference, took steps to ensure the practice was ended
Critical oversight of United Nations, including the pervasive problem of sexual abuse and exploitation being committed by U.N. peacekeepers
Kept committee about the fray of the political rancor pervading Washington (tried to start every debate in a bipartisan manner)
Prevented Obama administration from sidestepping the Senate on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
Got the Senate back on track in fulfilling its responsibility to review and ratify treaties

Bob Corker is a successful businessman, former United States Senator, and was previously named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine. Corker represented Tennesseans in the Senate from 2007-2018, where he served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and became a national and global thought leader on fiscal, financial, and foreign policy issues. He was Tennessee’s commissioner of finance and mayor of Chattanooga before being elected to the Senate, but he spent most of his life in business. At the age of 25, Corker started his own construction company with $8,000 in savings, eventually expanding operations to 18 states across the country. He later purchased two of the largest and oldest real estate holding companies in Chattanooga. He and his wife, Elizabeth, call Chattanooga home.

Karl Dean was the sixth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. He was elected on Sept. 11, 2007 and was re-elected on Aug. 4, 2011. He completed his second term in office on September 25, 2015. Dean first held public office when he was elected as Nashville’s Public Defender in 1990, a post he was re-elected to in 1994 and 1998. He served as Metro Law Director from 1999 to January 2007, when he resigned to run for the office of mayor. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt. Dean was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Tennessee in 2018. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.

SPONSOR THIS PROGRAM!

We invite businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor this event. It is through your support that we are able to bring quality global affairs programs to the community.

For information about sponsoring other programs and series of events contact Patrick Ryan, TNWAC President @ 931-261-2353, pat@tnwac.org

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS AWARENESS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH

THE MISSION of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee World Affairs Council is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world.

THE VISION of the Tennessee World Affairs Council is a well-informed community that thinks critically about the world and the impact of global events.