Former U.S. Attorney General and Heritage’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow, Edwin Meese III, was honored by Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute with the William L. Armstrong Award.

Meese was presented with the award on Saturday, June 9, 2018 during the William L. Armstrong Gala at the Western Conservative Summit. He is their third recipient.

“With a lifetime of service to the founding principles of our country, we are honored to bestow this award upon Attorney General Ed Meese,” said Jeff Hunt, chairman of the Western Conservative Summit.

“William L. Armstrong was a follower of Christ, husband, father, grandfather, businessman, United States senator, college president, and a friend to all. He provided the visionary leadership to create the Western Conservative Summit.”

“Our job as conservatives is to preserve and promote the lessons we learned from President Ronald Reagan and to motivate our leaders and our citizens to support the principles, the policies, and the practices that Ronald Reagan demonstrated to our nation,” Meese said upon accepting his award.

“Thus, we can continue Ronald Reagan’s quest to ensure that the United States remains his beloved shining city on a hill, an example for the rest of the world, and a beacon of liberty to people throughout the world.”

In addition to his work with The Heritage Foundation, Meese served as the 75th Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan from February 1985 to August 1988. Meese’s time as attorney general was marked by remarkable efforts in counter terrorism, anti-drug initiatives and efforts to combat organized crime.

Meese has been a fervent defender of individual liberties and Reagan conservatism throughout his career, and his time at the Heritage Foundation.

“Ed Meese’s most important legacy is that he advised the man who changed the world,” said Lee Edwards, a distinguished fellow in Conservative Thought in Heritage’s B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics, Institute for Constitutional Government.

“Like St. Paul, Ed continues to fight the good fight, to run the race, to keep the faith with his eye on the final prize.

Previous recipients of the Armstrong award include Focus on the Family founder, James Dobson and founder of Prager University, Dennis Prager.