Adair Margo
Adair Margo was the Chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities during the two-term Presidency of George W. Bush. During her tenure, Margo successfully focused on international cultural diplomacy–beginning with Mexico–using the skills she gained growing up in El Paso, Texas on the border of the United States and Mexico. She traveled with First Lady Laura Bush to Paris, France for the United States reentry into UNESCO in 2003 and was appointed by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the US National Commission for UNESCO. Serving as a cultural ambassador, Margo traveled to Uruguay in 2004 at the invitation of U.S. Ambassador Martin Silverstein and she led the highest level cultural delegation to ever visit the People’s Republic of China at the invitation of Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng in 2006. Adair Margo received the Aguila Azteca, the highest recognition given by the Mexican Government to a non-Mexican citizen, from Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC in 2007. In 2008, at a surprise White House presentation during the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal ceremony, Margo received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President George W. Bush. In his citation, President Bush noted Adair Margo’s “rallying of support for the cultural agencies and strengthening of international relationships from Mexico to China”.
