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Ambassador hosts 80th birthday party for Librarian of Congress (June 02, 2009)
June 5, 2009
For Immediate Release
British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald hosted a dinner celebration at his residence yesterday evening for US Librarian of Congress Dr. James Billington's 80th birthday.
Eighty-eight of Dr. Billington's closest friends and family gathered at the British Ambassador's residence to honour and celebrate Dr. Billington's 80th birthday.
Special guests who attended the birthday celebration included:
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
Secretary of Transport Ray LaHood
Congressman Edward Markey
Senator Frank Lautneberg
Former Senator Paul Sarbanes
Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen
French Ambassador Pierre Vimont
The evening featured remarks from Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald, former Congressman James Leach and Dr. James Billington as well as a rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung by guests and a blowing out of birthday candles by Dr. Billington.
Speaking about Dr. Billington's achievements, Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald said:
"The purpose of this evening is to make clear our appreciation of Dr Billington's achievements as a scholar and particularly over the past 22 years as Librarian of Congress. He is one of, if not the, pre-eminent authority on Russian culture and history in the world today. Dr Billington was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford in the 1950s, and at my old College, Balliol. Throughout his career, Dr Billington has been a great friend of the United Kingdom, and has maintained the closest links with British academic institutions and libraries. He has an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford, as well from universities in a host of other countries. His close British links have always been woven into a committed and progressive internationalism."
Notes for Editors
Biography of Dr. James H. Billington
James Billington was sworn in as the 13th Librarian of Congress on September 14, 1987. He is also a Russian scholar, author of several books, and has 36 honorary degrees. He attended Princeton University and graduated as the class valedictorian in 1950; then attended Oxford University (Balliol College) as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned his doctorate.
Billington was in the US Army from 1953-56 and rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He was an instructor at Havard University from 1957-1958 and became the assistant professor of history from 1958-61. He moved to Princeton University, and was Associate Professor of History (1961-64) then Professor (1964-73). From 1973-87, he was the director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies.
Billington is the author of Mikhailovsky and Russian Populism (1956), The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture (1966), Fire in the Minds of Men (1980), Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope, August 1991 (1992), and The Face of Russia (1998), which he narrated and was shown on PBS in June 1998.
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