On November 6, 2007, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation held its annual Freedom Dinner to celebrate World Freedom Day. Over 250 guests from around the world gathered at the historic Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, DC to join Atlas in giving a toast to freedom!
The dinner program was preceded by an exclusive Atlas Club Briefing (for Atlas Club members who donate $1,000+ per year) where Elena Leontjeva (Lithuania) spoke candidly about her life under communism and her arrival at the essential need for freedom and free-markets. This was followed by the President’s Reception. During the President’s Reception, a formal award presentation was made for the 2007 Templeton Freedom Award for Initiative in Public Relations. The first place winner of this award was the Scientific Research Mises Center in Belarus and the runner-up was the Center for Politiske Studier (CEPOS) in Denmark.
The dinner opened with Toasts to Friedman by Elena Leontjeva (founder of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute), Atilla Yayla (president for the Association for Liberty Thinking, Turkey), and Ljubo Sirc, CBE (director for the Center for Research into Post-Communist Economies, United Kingdom). Each toasted to the importance and necessary pursuit of freedom from their respective regions and experiences.
Following the Toasts to Friedman and to Freedom, Atlas’s Alex Chafuen and Brad Lips presented the 2007 Freda Utley Prize for Advancing Liberty to Ognjenovic Kosovka of the Economic and 
Social Policy Institute (ESPI) in Serbia.
After dinner, Francisco Flores, former president of El Salvador and freedom champion, closed the evening with an inspired, thought-provoking address about the historical and sociological reasons behind the rise or fall of freedom in society. From here he proposed the appropriate paradigm and plan of action needed to protect and progress freedom in any culture. Click here to watch, read or listen to this speech!
Joseph A. Morris, former assistant attorney general, delighted the audience throughout the evening as the master of ceremonies for the event.
This year’s program, held at the Willard InterContinental Hotel, Washington, DC featured:
A keynote address by Francisco Flores, former president of El Salvador (1999-2004)
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During his presidency, El Salvador achieved its highest rate of poverty reduction in the region, the highest public investment in the history of the country, a substantial increase of macroeconomic stability, a new monetary regime, and the lowest interest rates and inflation of the past 25 years. His presidency brought positive changes to El Salvador after the troubled decades of dealing with the communist guerilla movement and disatrous socialist policies in the 1980s and 1990s. |
Joseph A. Morris, former Assistant Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan
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Mr. Morris served under President Reagan as Assistant Attorney General of the United States and Director of the Department of Justice Office of Liaison Services. He has also been an American delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and both a government and a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. |
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and the presentation of the
and the
Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Time: 5:00 Atlas Club Salon*
6:00 President’s Reception
6:30 General Reception
7:30 Dinner
Location: Willard InterContinental Hotel
1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Attire: Business & Cocktail
*The Atlas Club Salon is exclusively for Atlas Club Members who are individuals annually contributing $1000 or more. If you are interested in joining the Atlas Club, please contact Jo Kwong at jo@atlasusa.org.
2007 Freda Utley Prize for Advancing Liberty
The Freda Utley Prize for Advancing Liberty rewards the efforts of think tanks in difficult parts of the world that are most effective in disseminating the ideas of freedom including, limited government, the rule of law, free enterprise, and the dignity of the individual. The annual award provides $10,000 to the applicant that demonstrates excellence in reaching a broad audience or has a substantial impact on opinion-makers so that concepts relating to freedom become better understood. The winner of the 2006 Freda Utley Prize for Advancing Liberty was the New Economic School in Georgia. This year’s winning institute, selected by a panel of independent judges, will be announced during the Freedom Dinner.
2007 Templeton Freedom Prize for Initiative in Public Relations
The Templeton Freedom Prize for Initiative in Public Relations recognizes think tanks that demonstrate exemplary effort and success in generating and disseminating ideas. Prize recipients are chosen from among the winners of the current year’s Templeton Freedom Award grants. This prize creates an additional incentive for promising institutes to devote sufficient time and attention to the task of achieving widespread publicity and broad diffusion of their ideas, publications, and programs, through successful and sustained engagement with the media. The 1st place winner receives $10,000 and the second place winner receives $5,000. Previous winners include the Hellenic Leadership Institute (Greece), IMANI: Center for Policy & Education (Ghana), Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (Montenegro), Maxim Institute (New Zealand), F.A. Hayek Foundation (Slovakia), and the Centre for Civil Society (India). This year’s winners will be announced during the President’s Reception of the Freedom Dinner.
2007 Host Committee
Atlas launched its annual Freedom Dinner on November 9, 2004 to celebrate World Freedom Day and the 15th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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