Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership Hosts Tevi Troy Book Talk Today

In honor of Presidents Day, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership and the Thomas Balch Library will be hosting a book talk with former White House Official Tevi Troy on February 18th. The event, which will take place in the Council Chambers of the Leesburg Town Hall, kicks with a reception from 6:00-7:00 p.m. and Troy's talk will start at 7:00 p.m. Troy's latest book is called "What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House," which connects nicely with presidential history and at the same time relates to pop culture of today as well as yesterday.

Currently Dr. Tevi Troy is a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute and a writer and consultant on health care and domestic policy. He is a frequent television and radio analyst, and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, and The Jim Lehrer Show, among other outlets.

On August 3, 2007, Dr. Troy was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As Deputy Secretary, Dr. Troy was the chief operating officer of the largest civilian department in the federal government, with a budget of $716 billion and over 67,000 employees. In that position, he oversaw all operations, including Medicare, Medicaid, public health, medical research, food and drug safety, welfare, child and family services, disease prevention, and mental health services. He served as the regulatory policy officer for HHS, overseeing the development and approval of all HHS regulations and significant guidance. In addition, he led a number of initiatives at HHS, including implementing the President's Management Agenda, combating bio-terrorism, and public health emergency preparedness. He also sponsored a series of key conferences on improving HHS' role with respect to innovation in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and medical device industries. Dr. Troy has led U.S. government delegations to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Africa.

Dr. Troy has extensive White House experience, having served in several high-level positions over a five-year period, culminating in his service as Deputy Assistant and then Acting Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. In the latter position, he ran the Domestic Policy Council and was the White House's lead adviser on health care, labor, education, transportation, immigration, crime, veterans and welfare. At the White House, Dr. Troy also specialized in crisis management, creating intra-governmental consensus, and all aspects of policy development, including strategy, outreach and coalition building. He also served for a time as the White House Jewish liaison. Dr. Troy spearheaded the White House's American Competitiveness Initiative, featured in the 2007 State of the Union Address. He left the White House for a period to serve as deputy policy director for the 2004 Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, where he was responsible for debate preparation.

Dr. Troy has held high-level positions on Capitol Hill as well. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Troy served as the Policy Director for Senator John Ashcroft. From 1996 to 1998, Troy was Senior Domestic Policy Adviser and later Domestic Policy Director for the House Policy Committee, chaired by Christopher Cox. Before serving on Capitol Hill, Dr. Troy was a Researcher at the American Enterprise Institute.

In addition to his senior level government work and health care expertise, Dr. Troy is also a presidential historian, making him one of only a handful of historians who has both studied the White House and worked there at the highest levels. Dr. Troy is also the author of Intellectuals and the American Presidency: Philosophers, Jesters, or Technicians? (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), and has written over 100 articles, for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, The New Republic, Commentary, Reason, Investor's Business Daily, National Review, Washingtonian, The Weekly Standard, and other publications.

Dr. Troy's many other affiliations include: contributing editor for Washingtonian magazine; member of the publication committee of National Affairs; member of the Board of Fellows of the Jewish Policy Center; Adjunct Professor at the School of Policy and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University; member of the International Advisory Council for APCO Worldwide; a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute; and a regular contributor to National Review Online. In 2012, he was a Special Policy Adviser to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign and served as Director of Domestic Policy for the nascent Romney transition. Troy has a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and an M.A and Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Texas at Austin.

The program is presented by the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership in collaboration with the Thomas Balch Library, which is owned and operated by the Town of Leesburg. The cost of the program is $10 and includes light refreshments. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing after the program. Pre-registration is required as limited space is available. To register, or for more information, visit http://www.HallowedGround.org.