The John W. Kluge Center was established in the fall of 2000 with a gift of $60 million from John W. Kluge, Metromedia president and founding chairman of the James Madison Council. Within the Office of Scholarly Programs, the center's goal is to bring the world's best thinkers to the Library of Congress where they can make wide-ranging use of the institution's unparalleled resources to promote scholarship.
In July, the renovation of the Jefferson Building's first floor north curtain was completed, and the Kluge Center moved permanently into the space. The new facilities accommodate the Office of Scholarly Programs staff as well as 30 fellows and 11 chair holders and senior scholars. During the year, competitions were held for five residential fellowship programs, and by year's end 25 scholars had been selected as Kluge Fellows, Kluge Library of Congress Staff Fellows, Library of Congress International Studies Fellows (Mellon and Luce foundations) and Rockefeller Fellows in Islamic Studies.
The inaugural Henry Alfred Kissinger Lecture on foreign policy and international relations, which was given by Henry Kissinger himself, addressed the changes in U.S. policies as a result of the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The lecture was cybercast on the Library's Web site and published as a brochure. The Kissinger endowment also provides a grant for a 10-month research appointment at the Library. Aaron Friedberg of Princeton University served as the first Kissinger Scholar in Foreign Policy and International Relations in 2001-2002. On September 2, Klaus W. Larres of Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, became the second scholar to occupy the Kissinger chair.
