Brookings Head Talbott Headlines Planned Parenthood Fundraiser

Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state and the current head of the Brookings Institution, headlines a fundraiser to be held tonight, in support of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS).  The fundraiser will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton and Towers, located at Marquette Avenue and 10th Street in Minneapolis.  The event will feature a silent auction, as well as dinner.

Talbott’s speech “will address the need for social policies on the international level that support individual rights and strengthen families and societies,” said Kathi DiNicola, spokeswoman for PPMNS, in a statement to Minnesota Monitor.  “Talbott will also speak to an American political environment that poisonous partisanship, the breakdown of civility in discourse and the harm inflicted by American foreign policy that gone disastrously off-course in recent years.”

The even begins at 6 p.m. with a silent auction, followed by dinner from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.  (deletes While the event will be held this Thursday evening,) Tickets are available at the PPMNS website.  Those interested in supporting Planned Parenthood also can donate  or volunteer.

The Brookings Institution is a centrist think tank headquartered in Washington, DC, that has traditionally been allied with foreign-policy moderates in the Democratic Party.  Though generally considered to be center-left, Brookings fellows have been criticized by some Democrats  for being too supportive of the war in Iraq. 

Talbott himself rose to prominence as a journalist with Time magazine.  He was brought into government in 1993 by his friend and fellow Rhodes Scholar, then-President Bill Clinton.  During his time in the Clinton administration, he helped analyze potential outcomes of the Soviet Union’s break-up.  He is the author of several books, including At the Highest Levels: the Inside Story of the Cold War, which he co-authored with historian Michael Bechloss.