David W. Belin Lecture in American Jewish Affairs
Each year, the Frankel Center hosts an accomplished speaker to present the David W. Belin lecture in American Jewish Affairs. This annual event was established in 1991 through a generous gift from the late David W. Belin of Des Moines and New York.
Mr. Belin, a graduate of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Business School, and the Law School of the University of Michigan, had a distinguished career in law and public service. A distinguished public servant, Belin served as counsel to the Warren Commission, which investigated President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and was executive director to the Rockefeller Commission, which investigated CIA activities within the United States. A founding Chairman of Reform Judaism's Outreach Commission and founding member of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, Belin served the American Jewish communities in numerous leadership roles. That service reflected his concern for the future of American Jewry and stimulated him to endow this annual lectureship in 1991 to provide a forum for the discussion of contemporary Jewish life in the United States.
