Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
by Mike Wimmer
Scholar, diplomat, political scientist and advocate for America’s foreign policy, Jeane Kirkpatrick is one of America’s true experts on world politics and international affairs. Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was born November 19, 1926, in Duncan, Oklahoma, and graduated from Barnard College in 1948. She received a doctorate in political science from Columbia University in 1968. She joined the faculty of Georgetown University where she became a full professor of political science in 1968.
In 1980, she became the foreign policy advisor for Ronald Reagan during his presidential campaign. She was named as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for four years and also served as a cabinet member for President Reagan from 1981 through 1985. She served as a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1985 to 1990, the Defense Policy Review Board from 1985 to 1993 and chaired the Secretary of Defense Commission on Fail Safe and Risk Reduction from 1991 to 1992. On March 13, 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Dr. Kirkpatrick as Representative of the United States of America on the Human Rights Commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
She has been awarded the Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor, and has received many other international medals and awards. Dr. Kirkpatrick is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and serves as Co-Founder and Director of Empower America, a conservative public policy organization. In addition, she testifies yearly before Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives on national and international defense policy, focusing on matters of high importance to our national security. She is the author of many publications including The Withering Away of the Totalitarian State, Dismantling the Parties: Reflections on Party Reform and Party Decomposition and Good Intentions. Dr. Kirkpatrick resides in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick by Mike Wimmer was dedicated on April 19, 2004. The commission was managed by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. The painting is located inside the Lounge of the Oklahoma State Senate on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30 when the Senate is not in session.
The Artist
Born
and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mike Wimmer began his career as
an artist during the seventh grade. He earned his B.F.A. from the University
of Oklahoma, where he met Don Ivan Punchatz. Wimmer later moved to
Arlington, Texas to be Punchatz apprentice at Punchatz famous Sketch
Pad Studio. Wimmer learned valuable knowledge regarding the
business aspect of illustrating as well as various painting techniques
and the working methods of the local Dallas illustrators. After his two and a half year apprenticeship, he moved back to Norman, Oklahoma and
set up his own studio using all that he had learned in Texas. Since
then Wimmer has become very successful illustrating children’s
books such as “Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh” by
Robert Burliegh which was the winner of
the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children in 1990. He also illustrated “All the Places to Love” by Patricia MacLachlan which
was published in 1994 and won the Oklahoma Book Award
for Best Illustrated Children’s Book 1995. Wimmer’s latest
book, “Will Rogers” by Former Governor Frank Keating, was
published in 2002 and has won the 2003 Spur Award from the Western
Writers Association of America. Even though Wimmer has worked for some
of the largest corporations in the world including Disney and Procter
and Gamble, Wimmer finds the greatest artistic pleasure within his
creation of fine art.