David Manker Abshire (April 11, 1926 – October 31, 2014) was an American politician who served as a Special Counselor to President Ronald Reagan and was the United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 1983 to 1987. Abshire presided over the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.
In July 2002, he was elected President of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation of New York. He was a member of the exclusive Alfalfa Club.
Abshire was a Republican and the author of seven books, the most recent being A Call to Greatness: Challenging Our Next President, which was published in 2008. Abshire was married and had five children.
He was a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and sat on the advisory board of America Abroad Media.
Abshire was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 11, 1926.
He graduated from The Bright School in 1938, and Baylor School in Chattanooga in 1944.
Abshire graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1951. Then he received his doctorate in History from Georgetown University in 1959, where for many years he was an adjunct professor at its Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Project on National Security Reform. Till 1977 he worked as administrator in the Advisory Board at St. Albans School and in the Board of Advisors at Naval War College.
Abshire fought in the Korean War 1951–1955, where he served as platoon leader, division intelligence officer and company commander. He received various distinctions: the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster with V for Valor, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Infantry Badge.
In 1962, Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke founded the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In 1988, as President of CSIS, he merged the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum into his organization to give it more input from the Asia-Pacific region. Dr. Abshire served as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations from 1970 to 1973 and later as Chairman of the U.S. Board of International Broadcasting (1975–77). He was a member of the Murphy Commission (1974–75), the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1981–1982), and the President's Task Force on U.S. Government International Broadcasting (1991).
During the transition of government in 1980, Abshire was asked by President-elect Reagan to head the National Security Group, which included the State and Defense Departments, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency. He served for nine years on the board of Procter & Gamble.
Abshire was married to Carolyn Lamar Sample. He had four daughters and one son: Anna Lamar Bowman, Mary Lee Jensvold, Phyllis d'Hoop, Caroline Hall and Lupton Abshire.
In 1983–1987 Abshire was Ambassador to NATO where, in reaction to the threat posed by Soviet SS-20 missiles, he was appointed to oversee the deployment of Pershing and Cruise missiles. For his service, he was given the Distinguished Public Service Medal.
Special Counselor to President Reagan
Abshire was recalled as the Iran-Contra Affair unfolded to serve as Special Counselor to President Reagan with Cabinet rank. His charge was to assure a full investigation of the sale of arms to Iran so as to restore the confidence of the nation in the Reagan presidency.
Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1992.
Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, from the University of the South in 1994.
John Carroll Award for outstanding service by a Georgetown University alumnus.
Distinguished Graduate Award of the United States Military Academy.