Kentucky statesman Henry Clay – who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the Senate and as Secretary of State, AND was known as the “Great Compromiser” – would start each new Congress by bringing a barrel of Kentucky bourbon to Washington to “lubricate the wheels of government.”
In 2015 the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship (HCCS) and the Kentucky Distillers Association (KDA), revived the practice, hosting the inaugural Bourbon Barrel of Compromise to highlight Clay’s commitment to compromise, dialogue and civil discourse.
HCCS and KDA will host the second Bourbon Barrel of Compromise on Wednesday (6/21) from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, DC.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the featured guest and will speak at the event.
Former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Trent Lott (R-MS), recently named Honorary Co-Chairs of the HCCS, will receive the first Henry Clay Statesmanship Award for their consistent advocacy for greater bipartisan compromise, dialogue and compromise.
HCCS, along with its partners Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky, are dedicated to educating a new generation of leaders in the principles and practices of statesmanship. Founded in 2007, HCCS educates tomorrow’s leaders in the skills necessary for statesmanship, dialogue, negotiation and compromise. In addition to annual student congresses at the high school and college levels, HCCS sponsors lectures and conducts advocacy for negotiation and compromise in public policy at all levels of government.
Robert Clay, a descendant of Henry Clay and HCCS’s chairman and founder, said: “Tom Daschle and Trent Lott embody Henry Clay’s famous statement that: ‘All legislation, all government, all society is founded upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these everything is based.”
“We all have a strong interest in effective government, and the heart of our democracy lies in the spirit of unity and compromise,” said Eric Gregory, President of the KDA. “We continue to be honored for the opportunity to take part in this worthy event, which brings our Master Distillers and their timeless craft to Washington to remind our leaders of the continuing role Kentucky Bourbon plays on our national stage.”