New Indianapolis monument honors Richard Lugar
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A monument honoring late U.S. Sen. and former Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar will be dedicated Tuesday morning.
The ceremony, hosted by The Rotary Club of Indianapolis, is at 10 a.m. at Bicentennial Unity Plaza outside of Gainbridge Fieldhouse,125 S. Pennsylvania Street.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be the keynote speaker.
Organizers say the event is open seating and there is complimentary parking at Virginia Avenue Garage.
Lugar served two terms as mayor of Indianapolis, holding the office from 1968 to 1976. He then served six terms in the U.S. Senate. During his time in the Senate, he became a leading Republican voice on foreign policy matters – twice chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Much of his work at the Capitol was dedicated to arms control and nuclear disarmament.
He continued to be reelected until 2012, when he was defeated in the primary by then-Indiana State Treasurer Richard Murdock. After leaving the Senate, he set up The Lugar Center, a public policy institute in Washington, D.C. In 2013, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.