Sir Eldon Griffiths 

In partnership with the World Affairs Councils of America

The Speaker

Born in England, and educated at Cambridge and Yale, Sir Eldon Griffiths was elected in 1964 as Member of Parliament for the Conservative seat of Bury St. Edmunds.  He served as chairman of the Polish, German and Iranian sub-committees of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs committee and led parliamentary delegations to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and New Zealand.  For four years he was a delegate to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and West European Union in Paris.  He served for 17 years as Advisor to the British police.
After assisting two Prime Ministers prepare their speeches, Griffiths was named Minister of Sport and Under Secretary of State at the world’s first government Department of the Environment.  He helped set up the UN’s environmental agency; pioneered legislation on water engineering and transport; represented his government at international conferences in Brussels, Washington and Moscow.  When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative party he was appointed as her Party’s spokesman on European and NATO issues.  He was knighted by the Queen in 1988.

A talented journalist, Sir Eldon began his career in this field in California as a Time and Life correspondent covering the departure of the U.S. Marines for Korea.  Later, as Chief European Correspondent and Foreign Editor for Newsweek, he reported on crises in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, covered the Bay of Pigs operation against Cuba, landed in Jordan with the British parachute brigade and was held prisoner by the Russian Army in Budapest.  He was Newsweek’s foreign editor in New York in his 30’s and managing dditor of its European and Pacific editions. His signed opinion columns appeared over many years in Newsweek and the Washington Post, the Daily Telegraph and London Evening News, and now are published in the Orange County Register and the Business journal.

Now living in both Laguna Niguel, California and Bury St. Edmunds, UK, Sir Eldon is a director and consultant to U.S. and U.K.-based property, engineering, steel-tube and pharmaceutical companies.  He lectures on international business at USC as well as Chapman University.  He is Chairman of the Korea-America Friendship Society of southern California and holder of the Gold Medal of Honor of the Republic of China, Taiwan.  A Freeman of the City of London and honorary citizen of Orange County, he was elected National Chairman of the World Affairs Councils of America in 2001.

Lecture

Which way Europe? How will Euor-nationalism change relations with the United States?

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