Hamilton, Lee, 1931-

Lee Herbert Hamilton was born April 20, 1931, in Daytona Beach, Florida, attended the public schools of Evansville, Indiana, excelling in basketball, and graduated from De Pauw University, 1952. He studied at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1952 and 1953, and graduated from the Indiana University School of Law in 1956. He went into private practice in Columbus, Indiana, and became active in the Bartholomew County Young Democrats. He was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-ninth and to the sixteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1965-January 3, 1999), combining intensive efforts toward development in his largely rural district with extensive engagement through his committee work in international affairs. Hamilton served on the Foreign Affairs Committee for his full congressional tenure, chairing its Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East for over two decades, chairing also the Select Committee on Intelligence (99th Congress), the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran (100th Congress), the Joint Economic Committee (101st Congress); and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (103rd Congress). His complete committee service record also includes the Post Office and Civil Service Committee and the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress.

Deciding to retire in 1999, he worked with President Miles Brand of Indiana University to establish the Center on Congress, which he directs, and was appointed director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, which position he held until November 2011. He served as vice chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission) from 2002-2004, as co-chair of the Iraq Study Group with James Baker in 2006, and continues to serve as a consultant on national security and international affairs both individually and as a member of various commissions.