By Brendan O’Reilly

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is “a well recognized household name of both reverence and spite,” according to his introduction Tuesday at Adams Playhouse. Ashcroft gave a speech entitled “Leadership in Challenging Times.”

Ashcroft started his address on a light note, making jokes and pointing out that he is the only person to ever lose a U.S. Senate race to a deceased person.

His speech quickly became serious as he told the audience that everyone is a leader to someone, and has the power to change the future.

“I suspect,” Ashcroft said, “as a matter of fact I would almost be willing to wager, that each of you is the single most important leader in the world, to at least one other person. Someone looks to you for profound guidance in terms of the way they live their life.”

He criticized those who lead by adopting the majority opinion – a practice he said is prevalent in Washington, D.C.

“Leadership is not finding out where people are already going and hoping to beat them to the destination,” he said. “A cab driver or a bus driver can take people where they are already going. Leadership is a way of redefining the possible, understanding what the future will demand and developing the capacity to meet that demand.”

The attorney general said leaders must be “future oriented,” a realization that dawned on him on September 11, 2001.

Ashcroft said he was in a plane looking over Grand Rapids Michigan when he got the call that the country was under attack. “I turned to the others in the cabin and said, ‘the world will never be the same,'” he said. He wanted to return to Washington right away, but air traffic controllers were not letting planes fly into the capital without military escort. He described being draped with a heavy coat full of Kevlar and rushed to a vehicle destined for an “undisclosed location” after finally landing.

“[H]ad we made the wrong turn on our way into Washington that day, I’m convinced now, that the fighter pilot who flew close enough to our wing that we could see his face would have made sure that someone else was talking to you tonight instead of me.”

A day after the attacks, Ashcroft was in the White House with the president. “He looked in my direction and simply said, ‘Never let this happen again,'” Ashcroft said. This demand from the president lead to the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, simply known as the Patriot Act. The act, according to the attorney general, was to change the focus of the justice department from prosecuting crimes to stopping them before they happen.

He said 98 senators voted to pass the Patriot Act in 2001 and 88 voted for reauthorization five years later because it is necessary for fighting terror. “You can’t get 88 senators to agree that today is Tuesday,” he said.

At the conclusion of his 45 minute speech, Ashcroft wished the audience God’s blessing and opened the floor for questions.

One questioner, Jason Emerson, said he was detained under the Patriot Act and his rights were violated. He asked Ashcroft for an apology and a hug. Ashcroft did not apologize, nor did he hug Emerson, who brought a document from his arrest displayed in a picture frame. He said even though Emerson may have been told he was being held under the Patriot Act, the authorities that had arrested him were not exercising powers given to them by the act.

One questioner accused Ashcroft of being an architect of the war in Iraq. “I just want everybody to know that that’s categorically wrong,” Ashcroft replied, before allowing the questioner to continue.

She asked Ashcroft how today’s young people can, as a generation, reverse the effects of the war.

“You want to get yourselves elected so you can make the decisions,” he said, “but if you want to make decisions about war don’t get yourselves appointed to the attorney general’s job.”

As she went on, Carlos Cruz, a member of the College Republicans, tried to shuffle the questioner away but Ashcroft wanted to let her continue. “Leave her alone for heaven’s sake,” he said. “She’s inflicting more damage on herself than she is on me.”

Another questioner, who identified himself as a soldier, said students who would rather flee the United States than serve in the military concerned him. “How can I convince my fellow Americans to proudly and greatly serve their country in this dire time of need?” he asked.

“I’m not sure how we get people to understand the value of freedom. It’s one of those things that’s very easy to take for granted,” the attorney general replied. He pointed out his son’s military service. “I can’t overstate the admiration I feel for individuals who are willing to put their lives on the line,” he added.

A student, who said he is an aspiring teacher, gave Ashcroft examples of propaganda he said he and his roomate experienced in classrooms. He said at a school he attended prior to Hofstra a teacher had told him “George Bush and the administration pumped negative ions into the Gulf of Mexico to create a hurricane to destroy New Orleans.”

“You didn’t know about that?” Ashcroft replied in jest. He also joked that the government could not have faked the September 11 attacks because it would take more than nine months to dissemble the moon landing set.

John Ashcroft, who was the U.S. attorney general during the first term of President George W. Bush, spoke to Hofstra students on Tuesday about leadership in a post-9/11 world.