Politics & Power Quote by Richard Lugar

Lugar’s line is a politician’s two-step: concede the bean counters, then pivot to the flag. He starts with the most defensible, least romantic argument for international students - “much needed revenues” - a nod to administrators staring at budget gaps and lawmakers skeptical of higher ed subsidies. Then he immediately demotes that rationale as almost crass, elevating the real prize: influence. The phrase “much more importantly” is doing heavy lifting, repositioning foreign enrollment as national strategy rather than campus bookkeeping.

The subtext is soft power, plain and unapologetic. “Introduce foreign students” isn’t just cultural exchange; it’s a bet that proximity to American institutions, norms, and networks will outlast any trade dispute or diplomatic flare-up. Lugar frames the classroom as America’s most scalable embassy, with tuition-paying visitors doubling as future elites who will carry an experiential memory of the U.S. back into their governments, industries, and media ecosystems.

Context matters: Lugar came up in a Cold War and post-Cold War Republican foreign policy tradition that treated alliances and institutions as assets, not constraints. Read against rising immigration anxiety and the securitization of visas, “declining overseas admissions” becomes a warning about self-inflicted isolation. Even the slightly grandiose “all that America has to offer the world” signals a belief that American credibility is built as much through lived contact as through speeches. It’s an argument for openness dressed in pragmatism - and a reminder that closing doors rarely stays a domestic decision.