Former U.S. Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., will speak to Dr. Malcolm Koch’s U.S. Foreign Policy class at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, in 36 Business Administration Building.
Although Tanner is speaking to a class on the topic of current issues in politics, Koch said the public is invited to attend the lecture.
Tanner represented Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District from 1989 to 2010. As congressman, he was active in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, first representing the U.S., then led the U.S. delegation and finally was elected by all NATO nations to head the Assembly for two years.
He also chaired the House Social Security Subcommittee and the Ways and Means Committee. He was also a member of the House Armed Services and Science Committees and a Chief Deputy Whip of the Democratic Congress in the 109th, 110th and 111th Congresses.
He also advocated for a fiscally conservative agenda directed at balancing the budget and alleviating the nation’s debt burden. Tanner also co-founded the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, which represents the common-sense, moderate voice of the Democratic Party.
Tanner, a native of Union City, received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Tennessee. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives for 12 years. He also served in the Tennessee National Guard from 1974 to 2000, when he ended his career at the rank of colonel, and was in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps from 1968 to 1972.
Tanner served on the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Naval, Air Force and Military academies.
Since Tanner’s retirement from Congress in 2010, he joined the boards of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Blue Dog Research Forum and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He is also a Paul Harris Fellow and member of the Union City Rotary Club.
Tanner is currently an attorney with the Butler Snow Law Firm in Nashville, specializing in government relations.
