Former ambassador to Mexico to speak at Goshen College March 18 as Yoder Public Affairs lecturer

 

Yoder Public Affairs Lecture: “The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine” by Jeffrey Davidow, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Date and time:Tuesday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Rieth Recital Hall, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: Free and open to the public
Event sponsor: Goshen College Yoder Public Affairs Lecture Committee

 

GOSHEN, Ind. – In his book titled “The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine,” Jeffrey Davidow, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, wrote, “I will make this flat statement: No nation in the world has a greater impact on the daily lives of average Americans than Mexico.”

Davidow will present a Yoder Public Affairs lecture at Goshen College on “The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine,” in the Music Center’s Rieth Recital Hall on Tuesday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

In his lecture, the ambassador will expand on the statement from his book. He will speak to the current state of the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico and the reasons for both the interdependence, and the frequent misunderstandings, between the two countries.

After serving 34 years in the State Department, Davidow retired as America’s highest ranking diplomat – one of only three people to hold the personal rank of Career Ambassador. During his foreign service career, Davidow focused much of his efforts on improving relations with Latin America. He served in increasingly senior positions in the U.S. embassies in Guatemala, Chile and Venezuela, and then later returned to Venezuela as ambassador from 1993 to 1996. From 1996 to 1998, he was the State Department’s chief policy maker of the hemisphere, serving in the position of assistant secretary of state.

Davidow then served as ambassador to Mexico from 1998 to 2002. Initially appointed to that position by President Clinton, he was asked by President Bush to remain in his post for an additional 18 months.

After leaving Mexico in September 2002, Davidow went to Harvard University to become a visiting fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, working extensively with undergraduate and graduate students during the 2002-03 academic year. He is currently president of the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla, Calif.

Davidow believes the strong ambivalence that many Mexicans feel toward the United States is a combination of attraction and revulsion, fascination and fear. There is a sense of the United States as a source of both opportunity and threat.

On the American side, especially in Washington, there is a lack of faith in Mexico’s ability to deal straightforwardly with the United States. “Ingrained prejudices and unthinking biases about Mexico’s poverty, corruption and culture color American thinking,” according to Davidow. “Those in both countries who want to work together, who understand that we cannot confront the problems we jointly face without close cooperation, are often torn … heavy psychological baggage weighs down both sides.”

Davidow’s visit to Goshen is sponsored by the Goshen College Yoder Public Affairs Lecture Committee. The Yoder Public Affairs Lecture Series began in 1978 when Frank and Betty Jo Yoder of Goshen created an endowed lectureship to enable faculty, students and community members to hear widely known speakers address current issues. 

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.